EU Asylum Applications Drop 11 Percent in 2024 as Syrian, Afghan, and Turkish Claims Plummet

Germany received the most claims, but it cut that number down by a third compared to last year.

Asylum seekers staying in the Pournara temporary accommodation center protest over delays in their application process, 12 miles outside the Cyprus capital Nicosia, on Feb. 1, 2021. Christina Assi/AFP via Getty Images

The number of asylum applications received in the European Union (EU) decreased by 11 percent in 2024, with applications from Syrians, Afghans, and Turks all decreasing significantly, according to an agency report.

On March 3, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) published its annual analysis of asylum trends for 2024, which stated that asylum applications are down across the EU, Norway, and Switzerland.

It said that 1,014,000 asylum applications were received, an 11 percent decrease year-over-year.

There was a significant drop in applications from Syrians (151,000), Afghans (87,000), and Turks (56,000) in 2024, which were decreases of 17 percent, 24 percent, and 45 percent, respectively, compared with 2023.

In 2024, Germany, like the year prior, received the most asylum applications, at 237,000, though the number was a third lower compared with 2023.

Ukrainians (27,000) fleeing the conflict with Russia lodged significantly more asylum applications in 2024, up by 90 percent compared with 2023.

The increase is linked to the Temporary Protection Directive, which provides immediate and collective protection to Ukrainian citizens and is set to expire in March 2026.

At the end of December 2024, the number of pending asylum cases stood at 981,000, among the highest on record, and more than double the number between 2017 and 2021. That number was surpassed once in 2024 and again during the peak of the refugee crisis in 2016.

Immigration

Immigration control has been a hot subject during elections in Europe.

Last month, Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) emerged as the winner of the federal election, over the populist anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany.

Establishment parties have increasingly moved away from long-standing progressive stances on immigration by, for example, reintroducing border checks.

In January, the CDU’s Friedrich Merz vowed permanent border controls after a deadly knife attack in Bavaria and the arrest of an Afghan asylum-seeker. However, the day after he won the election, Merz sent a different message, saying, “None of us is talking about closing borders.”

Rival parties to Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPO), who won the most votes in the parliamentary election last September, recently reached a deal to form a coalition government without the FPO.

The FPO stated in its manifesto that it wants immigrants who have entered Austria illegally to be removed, with very strict criteria enforced on legal immigration, and promoted the idea of “remigration,” a policy of returning immigrants to their country of origin.

The coalition deal has attempted to absorb some of the FPO’s asylum rules and foresees setting up “return centers” to house rejected asylum-seekers and for suspending family reunions.

Under the leadership of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Italy has prevented the flow of migrants crossing the Mediterranean by implementing a program that diverts migrants to Albania while asylum claims are processed. The program is the first of its kind operated by a European Union nation.

Sweden and France have also implemented stricter border controls.

European Commission

Last year, the European Union’s executive arm, the European Commission, proposed measures to tighten its stance on illegal immigration, responding to pressure from governments across the bloc, where illegal immigration has become a political and security concern.

“We should ... explore possible ways forward as regards the idea of developing return hubs outside the EU, especially in view of a new legislative proposal on returns,” EU President Ursula von der Leyen said.

She proposed striking more deals with non-EU countries from which illegal immigrants originate, or through which they transit, in order to stop them there. She also suggested that those who have no right to stay in the EU be sent to “return hubs” in non-EU countries, such as Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali.

She cited Italy’s agreement with Albania in November 2023 as a model.

Guy Birchall contributed to this report.