Asylum applications in Europe and Germany are declining - Germany is now only the third most popular destination country

In Europe as a whole, fewer asylum applications are being made and fewer and fewer people are applying for protection in Germany. In the first nine months of this year, 452,969 applications for protection were registered in the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland, according to previously unpublished figures from the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA). This represents a decrease of 24.3 percent compared to the same period last year, when there were 598,575 applications.

The numbers come from a new document from the EU Commission dated October 1, 2026 on the migration situation in Europe, which “Welt am Sonntag” reports on.

Germany in third place

Germany is therefore only in third place as a destination country for asylum applications this year: According to the EU report, 70,257 applications for protection have been submitted in this country since January. France is the leader with 98,822 asylum applications, followed by Italy with 78,496 applications. Behind it comes Germany. At the bottom are Malta with 294, Slovakia with 131 and Hungary with 83 applications.

Most applications from people from Afghanistan

Most applicants in Germany in the first nine months of the current year came from Afghanistan (23 percent), followed by Syria with twelve and Turkey with ten percent. Looking at the EU plus Norway and Switzerland, most applicants came from Afghanistan (52,361), Venezuela (37,294) and Bangladesh (26,497). 6,420 Russians also applied for asylum.

A total of 12,182 people from Ukraine also applied for asylum. Most applications for protection were made by Ukrainians in France (49 percent), followed by Poland (13 percent), Romania (six percent) and Germany (five percent).

Slight increase in September

However, compared to the previous month, more people in Germany applied for asylum for the first time in September. However, this does not change the long-term decline in the number of asylum seekers. As a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior told the dpa news agency, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) accepted 5,276 initial asylum applications last month. That is 40 percent less than in September last year and 70 percent less than in September 2024.