As of the end of 2023, approximately 712,000 Syrian protection seekers were registered in the German Federal Register of Aliens (AZR). The long-lasting war in Syria and the resulting refugee migration have had a significant impact on the German population, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Thursday.
Syrians made up 22% of the total 3.17 million protection seekers and were the second-largest group after Ukrainian nationals (31%). A significant portion of the Syrian protection seekers have been living in Germany for a long time: Half of the Syrian protection seekers (52%) arrived in Germany for the first time between 2014 and 2016, following the outbreak of the war in Syria. 12% of the Syrian protection seekers were born in Germany. Protection seekers are foreign nationals who, according to the AZR, are residing in Germany based on legal, humanitarian, or political grounds.
Most of the Syrian protection seekers (624,000 or 88%) had a humanitarian residence permit and thus an acknowledged status of protection. In most cases, this referred to a refugee status under the Geneva Refugee Convention (279,000 or 39% of all Syrian protection seekers) or subsidiary protection (240,000 or 34%). Subsidiary protection is applied when neither refugee protection nor asylum is granted and serious harm is threatened in the country of origin.
Among the approximately 81,000 Syrian protection seekers, the status of protection was still open (11%). Around 7,000 (1%) had a rejected status, either because their asylum application was rejected or they had lost their status. For 90% of the approximately 624,000 Syrian protection seekers with acknowledged status, this was a limited period.
Syrians also sought protection in Germany in 2024: The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees recorded 72,000 corresponding initial asylum applications for the period from January to November of this year. Syrian nationals made up every third initial asylum application in this period, making them the largest group among the total 217,000 people who requested asylum in Germany for the first time during this period.
The number of people with a Syrian migration background in Germany is significantly larger than the number of Syrian protection seekers. According to the Microcensus, around 1.3 million people lived in Germany in 2023 who either themselves (82%) or their both parents (18%) had migrated from Syria. Around 214,000 of them (17%) had acquired German citizenship, mostly through naturalization. According to the naturalization statistics, around 75,000 Syrians were naturalized in 2023, making up 38% of all naturalizations.
Most of the self-migrants came to Germany as part of the large refugee movement from 2014 onwards: 62% of them arrived between 2014 and 2016. On average, the migrants from Syria had lived in Germany for 8.2 years in 2023, with an average age of 22.9 at the time of their immigration.
The majority of people with a Syrian migration background lived in North Rhine-Westphalia (374,000, 29%), followed by Lower Saxony, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg (each 9%).