In contrast to 2015, a record year in asylum numbers, Belgium only registered half as many asylum applications in 2016 (18,710 applicants). This drop in arrivals also includes the foreign unaccompanied minors.

In order to adapt the number of places to this new reality, the Belgian government decided to reduce the number of available asylum places by 10,000 in 2016, notably through the closure of some thirty temporary centres created in emergency to shelter the asylum seekers. The people accommodated in the centres scheduled for closure have in the meantime gradually been transferred to other reception facilities.

Fedasil and its partners are currently managing 26,000 reception places (versus 35,700 places at the height of the demand).

The people received are mostly from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, and Somalia. 80% of them are still awaiting a final decision on their asylum application.