Asylum applications in the European Union will fall in 2025

The number of asylum applications in the European Union suffered a “significant drop” in the first half of 2025, registering 399,000, 23% less than in the same period of the previous year, according to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUA).

According to this European agency, this drop means that the recognition rate has reached its lowest level ever, partly explained by the decrease in the number of requests made by Syrian citizens after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December 2024.

Following political changes in Syria, there were “ far fewer Syrians [who] applied for asylum during the first half of 2025,” which also resulted in them no longer being the main nationality in asylum applications in the European Union.

According to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), Venezuelans and Afghans became the citizens who submitted the most asylum applications in the first six months of 2025.

"With fewer Syrians applying for asylum, Germany is no longer the EU's top destination; France and Spain received the most applications in the first half of 2025, while Greece and Cyprus received the most applications per capita," EUAA said.

It also states that the number of cases awaiting a decision in the first instance remained at almost record levels, with 918,000 pending at the end of June 2025.

“It is estimated that the total number of cases, including those under appeal or review, awaiting a decision at the end of May 2025 (most recent data) was approximately 1.3 million,” the report reads.

It adds that, at the end of June 2025, there were around 4.5 million beneficiaries of temporary protection in the EU who fled Ukraine after the Russian invasion, with “half of them being welcomed in Germany and Poland”, although the Czech Republic took in the largest number of beneficiaries per capita.

Quoted in the statement accompanying the report, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, explained the decrease in the number of asylum applications with the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which brought "more efficient procedures", particularly in relation to applications with little chance of success so that "they can be processed more effectively".

According to Brunner, other proposals “will strengthen cooperation with third countries, ensuring that returns are effective and relieving pressure on asylum systems.”

Analyzing the last ten years, the report's data shows that in 2015 and 2016, Europe received around 3 million migrants and asylum seekers, in the period known as the refugee crisis, a number that fell to just over 673,000 in 2017 and less than half a million in 2020, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

From then on, it continues to rise and in 2023 it exceeds 1.1 million applicants, before falling again in 2024, albeit slightly, to just over one million people.

Between January and July 2025, the EU received almost 400,000 migrants and asylum seekers, including a growing number of Venezuelan citizens due to the “deep economic and political crisis in Venezuela,” but also around 42,000 Afghans.

The percentage of people who applied for asylum and were granted that status remained at 40% over the last three years and “fell to 25%” during the first half of 2025, a phenomenon “driven by a sharp drop in decisions issued to Syrian applicants.”