Amid heated migration debate, Germany sees 34% drop in asylum requests in 2024

February 4, 2025   

(Reuters) Asylum applications in Germany fell by 34% last year, the interior ministry said on Tuesday, in news welcomed by the outgoing Social Democrat interior minister amid heated debates over migration ahead of a national election set for Feb. 23.

Public angst over migration has surged amid a flurry of violent incidents involving immigrants, including a car-ramming and a deadly knife attack in the past two months alone that killed a total of eight people.

These concerns have stoked support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which opinion polls put in second place behind the main conservative opposition.

Germany registered 213,499 asylum applications in 2024, down from 322,636 the year before, the new data showed. Last month, 37% fewer applications were submitted than in January 2024.

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