How many refugees are living in Germany, and where are they from? How many people have sought asylum in Germany recently? Several new statistics released by German authorities give insights into this, including a recent answer from the federal government to a parliamentary request.

InfoMigrants has summarized the most important facts you need to know:

1. Number of protection seekers at all-time high

• The number of protection seekers in Germany has risen to an unprecedented 3.55 million at the end of 2024, according to the federal government. However, it's worth noting that the number increased only slightly, up from 3.42 million in 2023.
• Germany's federal statistical agency refers to anyone who is in the country on humanitarian grounds as a 'protection seeker'. Consequently, the 3.55 million figure includes current and rejected asylum seekers as well as refugees from Ukraine.
• Of the 3.55 million, some 1.6 million had a recognized protection status. Of those, 710,000 people had refugee status, followed by 710,000 with subsidiary protection, protection due to different circumstances, a deportation ban and entitlement to be granted asylum.
• In addition, around 343,000 asylum seekers and some 180,000 persons obliged to leave the country were living in Germany at the end of last year; around 178,000 of them were tolerated, according to the aforementioned answer by the federal government.

2. One third of refugees in Germany are from Ukraine

• Around 1.2 million of all 3.55 million protection seekers -- roughly one third -- came from Ukraine, according to the Central Register of Foreigners.
• This included roughly 40,000 people were not Ukrainian citizens.
• The number of refugees from Ukraine increased by around 108,000 over the course of last year, news agency KNA reported.
• Around a third of them are minors.

3. Syrians are largest group with subsidiary protection

• At the end of 2024, around 381,000 people were recognized in Germany as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection. Syrians also made up by far the largest proportion of this group, with around 296,000 people.
• Among recognized refugees, there was also a particularly large number of Syrians (around 316,000), according to the German news agency KNA.
• It is worth noting that protection rates for Syrians dropped starkly in recent months. While only 17 percent of Syrians' asylum applications were unsuccessful last year, the figure for the first four months of this year was 99,8 percent. After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the processing of asylum applications from Syrian asylum seekers was temporarily suspended in Germany. However, an administrative court in Karlsruhe ruled this week that the German asylum agency should start processing asylum requests from Syrians again.

4. Fewer refugees moving to Germany

• Fewer new refugees are moving to Germany than in previous years, official data shows. Roughly 100,000 fewer applications were filed last year (251,000) than in 2023 (352,000).
• This trend has continued in the first four months of this year: 53,000 asylum applications were lodged, around 43 percent fewer compared to the same period last year.
• The protection rate has also significantly decreased: While close to every other asylum application (44,4 percent) was successful last year, the same can be said about fewer than two in ten (18,2 percent) so far this year, according to figures from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF).

5. New asylum seekers come from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey

• Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq and Somalia were the top five countries of origin of asylum seekers in the first four months of this year. The same was the case in 2024.

with KNA