Vienna - In 2020, a total of 1,316 people was supported by IOM Austria in the voluntary return to their countries of origin. In the past year, COVID-19 reduced international mobility to a minimum. The number of returns is therefore hardly comparable with previous years.

As in 2019, Serbia was the country with the highest number of voluntary returnees from Austria (146 persons assisted), followed by Rumania (110 persons). As the first non-European country, Iraq ranks third in the statistics of top return countries with a total of 86 assisted persons.  

2020 also marked the 20th anniversary of the “Memorandum of Understanding” between IOM and the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, building the basis for the cooperation of both institutions in the field of voluntary return. From 2000 until 2020, together with the respective authorities and return counsellors from NGOs, more than 50,000 people were supported in their voluntary return from Austria.

In the framework of the project RESTART III, 69 people were supported not only in their voluntary return but also in their reintegration in Afghanistan, inter alia with cash and in-kind assistance. The project is co-financed by the Austrian Ministry of the Interior and the European Union.

Read the entire press release in German here.

The statistics from 2020 and previous years are available here.