Asylum applications are falling, protection rates are rising: Why Afghan women in particular are receiving protection

The number of new asylum applications in Germany is falling, but at the same time the proportion of those who successfully apply for protection has recently been increasing again. According to information from the federal government, the adjusted protection rate of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) was 47.4 percent in the first half of 2026. In 2025 as a whole it was 37.5 percent. The adjusted quota excludes formal decisions in which the content of the application for protection is not examined.

Family protection recently played an important role. In the first half of 2026, protection status was granted on this basis in 21,195 cases. This corresponded to 45.6 percent of the positive decisions, where deportation bans are also taken into account.

As the federal government also reported in an answer to a parliamentary question from the Left Party, the adjusted protection rate for people from Afghanistan was even 89.3 percent. Afghanistan was also the most important country of origin for asylum seekers registered in the first half of the year.

One factor for the increase in the protection rate is a ruling by the European Court of Justice from October 2024. It found that women from the country, which has been ruled by the Islamist Taliban again since 2021, are generally entitled to protection.

As can be seen from the federal government's response, which is available to the German Press Agency, in the first half of this year almost 95 percent of decisions regarding Afghan women were granted protection status.

The number of people applying for asylum in Germany for the first time was significantly lower in the first half of this year with 39,646 initial applications than in the same period last year (72,818 initial applications).

The penal regulation against incorrect or incomplete information in the asylum procedure, which has been in force since February 2024, has had little practical relevance so far. According to the federal government, there have been a total of three criminal complaints filed by the Bamf since the new regulation came into force.

One of them was discontinued due to insignificance or lack of public interest. “Many of these measures prove to be unhelpful in practice,” said the Left Party’s refugee policy spokeswoman, Clara Bünger.