Germany was once again the main destination for refugees in the European Union in 2023. 329,120 people made an initial application for asylum here. This is an increase of 51.1 percent compared to 2022 with 217,774 first-time applications. These figures were published by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in its annual statistics. In addition to the initial applications, there were 22,795 subsequent applications.
People from Syria made the most initial applications for protection in Germany with 102,930. This is followed by Turkey with 61,181, Afghanistan with 51,275, Iraq with 11,152 and Iran with 9,384 first-time applications. Applications from the countries of origin Georgia (8,414), the Russian Federation (7,663), Somalia (5,301) and Eritrea (4,116) occupy places 6 to 9. The nationality of 4,060 applicants is unclear. Refugees from Ukraine are not included in the statistics. They automatically receive protection and do not have to apply for asylum.
The procedures for initial and subsequent applications for the entire federal territory took an average of 6.8 months. At the end of December 2023, almost 240,000 cases had not yet been decided. In contrast, a decision was made in 261,601 initial and subsequent applications in 2023. The protection rate was just under 52 percent. The BAMF rejected applications from 61,778 people. 64,546 procedures ended because another EU country was responsible due to the Dublin rules or because the application was withdrawn.
The number of asylum seekers in the European Union (EU) as a whole also rose significantly in 2023. According to research by the news magazine Spiegel, a total of around 746,000 people (2022: 598,000) applied for asylum in the EU by September 2023. Germany is in first place with 234,000 (comparative figure for 2022: 136,000), followed by Spain with 123,000 (85,000) and France 105,000 (96,000).
See: https://www.bamf.de/SharedDocs/Meldungen/DE/2024/240108-asylgeschaeftsstatistik-dezember-und-gesamtjahr-2023.html
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Beflaggung vor dem Tübinger Regierungspräsidium. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Martin Klaus.
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