2024: Statistics on Refugee Reception and Camps
Statistics on Refugee Reception and Camps highlight:
Critical gaps in reception conditions, refugees without financial allowances, serious shortages in health care and accommodation of vulnerable people
Critical deficiencies in the reception system for people seeking protection on the Greek islands and mainland are reflected in the latest statistics supplied by the authorities in response to parliamentary questions in March 2025. The figures, referring to 31 December 2024, confirm our observations regarding the situation prevailing in refugee camps both on the islands and on the mainland.
Capacity & residents in camps
27,100 people resided in camps managed by the Reception and Identification Service (RIS) of the Ministry of Migration and Asylum at the end of last year. These include Closed Controlled Access Centres (CCAC) on the islands, and Reception and Identification Centres (RIC) and Controlled Temporary Reception Centres for asylum seekers (CTRC) on the mainland.
The overwhelming majority of residents – 24,00 out of a total of 27,100 – had an active asylum procedure and were thereby entitled to reception conditions such as housing, food, clothing and a monthly financial allowance.
Population characteristics
children residing in refugee camps,
of them resided inside “safe areas” of the CCAC on the Eastern Aegean islands under extremely unsuitable conditions
The population of 27,1000 RIS camp residents at the end of 2024 includes over 8,000 children. Of those, most (4,416) resided inside “safe areas” of the CCAC on the Eastern Aegean islands under extremely unsuitable conditions contrary to minimum human rights standards, as recently affirmed by an interim measures order of the European Court of Human Rights in a case concerning Samos. Unaccompanied and separated children who have not been appointed a guardian or whose care has not been assigned to a relative on account of serious delays in the workings of the guardianship system remain de facto detained inside safe areas. Two Greek administrative courts have recently struck down such detention as unlawful in cases relating to Samos and Kos.
Table: Nationalities of residents in refugee camps in Greece
The main country of origin of camp residents at the end of the previous year was Syria.. The main camps hosting Syrian nationals were Samos on the island and Koutsochero and Polykastro on the mainland. Afghanistan came second, with Afghan nationals residing mainly on Lesvos on the islands and in Serres and Koutsochero on the mainland.
Critical gaps in reception conditions
Seven out of twelve months of the year without cash assistance
Ministry of Migration and Asylum data state that the total of 24,000 residents eligible for reception conditions have requested the monthly financial allowance (“cash assistance”) offered to asylum seekers. The figures refer to no more than 8,527 people receiving the allowance, that is 35% of the people who were entitled thereto and who had requested it.
In reality, however, none of the 24,000 people in the camps has received cash assistance over the last seven months of the year, due to the chronic inability of the Greek state to manage the EU-funded programme and to comply with its legal obligations. As a result, most asylum seekers in the camps are unable to cover even basic, necessary living expenses, such as medicine or transportation.
Recent requests from RSA clients regarding the disbursement of the financial allowance have yielded the following reply from the RIS:
Shortages in health care and interpretation
The figures provided in response to parliamentary questions confirm persisting shortages in the staffing of medical and psychosocial services in the camps. A total of 54 doctors were deployed to the total number of RIS camps, marking an increase compared to 29 doctors at the end of June 2024. Yet, against the backdrop of 27,100 residents, this amounts to one doctor for more than 500 people. Camps like Kos, Filippiada and Pyrgos had no doctor at all.
The number of interpreters deployed in RIS camps was 100 at the end of 2024. Severe gaps persist in camps such as Leros, with only one interpreter for a total population of 1,691, and Samos, with two interpreters for a total of 4,126 people.
Table: Interpreters per refugee camp
No alternatives for vulnerable people
Throughout 2024, the RIS identified 13,797 vulnerable people in the context of screening procedures conducted in the CCAC and RIC.
More than two years since the government’s commitments to establish the “Stiriksis” programme with a view to restoring at least 500 accommodation places in apartments for vulnerable asylum seekers in cities, camps remain the only form of accommodation offered to people seeking protection in Greece.
Official Ministry of Migration and Asylum data refer to 4,215 vulnerable people who resided in RIS camps. Most of the vulnerable asylum seekers were on Samos and Lesvos on the islands and in Malakasa and Koutsochero on the mainland.
Whereas the Ministry states that all of them received the special reception conditions required by law for vulnerable people, the reception conditions of these people in no way differ from those offered to the remainder of the asylum seekers’ population.
