Significant decline in asylum applications in Europe

Apparently fewer and fewer asylum applications are being made in Europe. In the first nine months of this year, 452,969 applications for protection were registered in the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland (EU+), writes Welt am Sonntag in advance, citing previously unpublished figures from the European Union Asylum Agency (EUAA). This is a decrease of 24.3 percent compared to the comparable period last year with 598,575 applications.

According to the newspaper, the figures are contained in a new document from the EU Commission dated October 1, 2026, marked as confidential, on the migration situation in Europe.

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

In Germany, more people applied for asylum for the first time in September than in the previous month. However, this does not change the long-term decline in the number of asylum seekers. 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, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said upon request.

The significant decline in the number of asylum seekers shows that our measures at national and European levels are working, said Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU). The European Union is continuing its course to turn the asylum system around. This includes a crisis reaction mechanism that protects the EU's external borders from controlled mass incursions, with a rapid reaction force from the EU border protection agency Frontex and fast-track procedures at the borders.

According to Welt am Sonntag, the majority of applicants in Germany in the first nine months of the current year came from Afghanistan - namely 23 percent - 12 percent came from Syria and 10 percent from Turkey. 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, the newspaper writes.

According to the newspaper, a total of 12,182 people from Ukraine applied for asylum. Most applications for protection were made by Ukrainians in France (49 percent), followed by Poland (13 percent), Romania (6 percent) and Germany (5 percent).