Syrian asylum applications drop significantly, reflecting broader decreasing trend in the EU+

In February 2025, Syrians lodged one of the smallest numbers of monthly applications in over a decade.  As a result, having been the main recipient country for Syrian asylum-seekers, Germany was no longer the main destination for asylum seekers in the EU+. France and Spain each received more applications than Germany. In France, Haitians and Ukrainians together represented one fifth of all applicants, while Venezuelans dominated the asylum landscape in Spain. The European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) has just published the first monthly dataset for 2025, on asylum applications in the EU+. In February, EU+ countries received around 69 000 asylum applications, following a decreasing trend that has been ongoing since October 2024.1 The fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria has led to a significant change in the asylum landscape in the EU+. In February, Syrians lodged the fewest applications in over a decade (5 000), with their number decreasing by 70 %, compared to October 2024. With Syrians, historically, having almost always been the nationality with the most applicants for international protection in the EU+, this change is notable for many reasons, among them the fact that Germany was not the main receiving EU+ country in February 2025. The sharp decrease in Syrian applications has also impacted several of the EUAA’s first instance asylum indicators. The latest asylum figures show how important stability in other regions is for...