In 2024, a total of 250,945 people filed an asylum application in Germany. This represents a decline of 30.2% compared to the previous year (329,120 initial applications), as announced by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) on Thursday. Of the initial applications in 2024, 21,270 concerned children under the age of one born in Germany.
In total, the Federal Office decided on over 301,350 initial and follow-up applications in 2024, with a overall protection rate of 44.4%. Applications from 91,940 people were rejected, and 75,700 procedures were terminated due to so-called other procedure terminations (such as Dublin procedures or procedure terminations due to withdrawal of the asylum application). The main countries of origin for asylum applications in the previous year were, in order of importance, Syria, Afghanistan, and Turkey.
“We have significantly reduced irregular migration” said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD) in response to the published figures. “Through our border controls at all German borders, we are disrupting the smuggling routes and combating transborder crime. 1,800 smugglers have been arrested and more than 40,000 people have been turned back as a result of our controls. Anyone who has no right to stay in Germany must leave the country.”
The overall procedure duration for initial and follow-up applications for the entire federal territory was 8.7 months from January to December, according to BAMF. The duration for the annual procedures, which cover all decisions on initial and follow-up applications with applications filed in the past 12 months, was 4.7 months.
In December, a total of 13,716 asylum applications were filed with BAMF, including 12,178 initial applications and 1,538 follow-up applications. Compared to the previous month, the number of initial asylum applications decreased by 24.5%. The Federal Office decided on asylum applications from a total of 21,441 people in December.