Number of asylum seekers in Germany drops significantly in February

The number of new asylum applications in Germany fell significantly in February.

At 19,494 first-time applications, the number was 18.9% lower than in February 2023 and 26.1% lower than in January, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees announced in Nuremberg on Thursday.

In January and February 2023, a total of 54,333 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time. In January and February of this year, there were 47,090, according to the office.

The February number of first-time applications is the lowest in a month since September 2022.

The three main countries of origin - Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey - accounted for around three-fifths of asylum applications submitted in 2024.

There were 14,024 first-time applicants from Syria alone, a decrease of 12.8% compared to the previous year.

First-time applications from people from Afghanistan even fell by 38.9% in the first two months of the year, from 10,924 to 6,679, while applications from people from Turkey rose from 6,809 in the previous year to 7,649, an increase of 12.3%.

In 2024 to date, 2,786 of the first-time applicants (5.9%) were children born in Germany who were less than 1 year old, according to the Federal Office.

Overall, the overall acceptance rate in the first months of 2024 was 45%, meaning that more than half of asylum applications were denied.