Improving the distribution of asylum-seekers through a multi-criteria index

Abstract

Despite the large number of studies on asylum burden-sharing, there is still no consensus on the most effective method for reducing cross-country inequalities. A benchmark model for equitable distribution could combine the Gini coefficient method with the ‘asylum multi-criteria index’, based on the country’s gross domestic product, population and territory. The method is implemented to measure the inequalities in the distribution of asylum-seekers among 30 European countries over a five-year period and solve an optimisation problem in 2017. The findings show that the unequal distribution worsened with the increase in the number of asylum-seekers while the optimisation model led to an approximate 60% reduction in the cross-country inequality in burden-sharing relative to the actual distribution. The results are compared with the burden-sharing formula proposed by the European Commission in 2015.