EU records decline in asylum applications in 2025

The number of applications for asylum recorded by EU authorities fell again last year - this time by an annual 20%, the agency responsible for tracking the process has reported.

Preliminary data showed around 780,200 applications were registered in the 27 EU member states and partner countries Norway and Switzerland from the start of January to mid-December 2025, according to a non-public report by the European Commission.

The information, which was confidentially transmitted to EU states, was obtained by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper and made available to dpa.

This represents a drop of about one-fifth compared with the same period in 2024 and can be mainly attributed to the decline in asylum applications from people from Syria, the report said.

Since the fall of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, Syrians are hoping for a better future, resulting in less migration abroad.

Migration to Germany down too

The German Interior Ministry said at the beginning of this month that significantly fewer asylum seekers had arrived in the country. According to official data, the number of initial applications fell by 51% to 113,236 in 2025 compared with 2024.

The European Commission's status report takes into account both initial and follow-up applications.

There were a total of approximately 149,100 applications in Germany during the reporting period. France follows with 148,600 applications, Spain with 137,300 applications and Italy with 125,800 applications.

EU commissioner pleased with figures

Without giving specific figures, EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said 2025 had been a good year for European migration policy.