Germany’s government presented a plan on Tuesday to implement more rigorously European rules on asylum that would see more people turned away at its borders, a day after it announced it would start carrying out controls on all its land borders.
The proposals include detaining asylum seekers while authorities determine whether Germany is responsible for processing their case with the help of Europe’s shared fingerprint database, Eurodac, amongst other tools, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told a news conference.

“We want people whose asylum procedure is the responsibility of another EU country to be sent back there,” Faeser said.

The measures reflect Germany’s hardening stance on immigration in the wake of high arrivals of asylum seekers from both the Middle East and Ukraine which could strain relations with other European states.

Yet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk earlier on Tuesday already criticised Germany’s tighter border controls, calling for urgent consultations with other affected countries and more support for Warsaw’s own immigration policies.
In a televised debate ahead of Austria’s parliamentary election on Sept. 29, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told national broadcaster ORF that if Germany introduced measures to send more immigrants back across their shared border, Austria would do the same, sending more people eastwards towards the Balkans.

Berlin says it must tackle irregular migration due to overburdened public services and to protect the public from threats such as Islamist extremism.

Recent deadly knife attacks in which the suspects were asylum seekers have stoked concerns over immigration. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for a knife attack in the western city of Solingen that killed three people in August.

In 2022, 5.1 million people immigrated to the EU from non-EU countries, while 1.0 million people emigrated from the EU to destinations outside the EU. 

The inflow of immigrants from non-EU countries more than doubled compared to the estimated 2.4 million in 2021. Conversely, the number of EU residents emigrating to countries outside the EU remained stable, with 1.0 million emigrants in 2021.

This information comes from data on migration and migrant populationpublished by Eurostat today. This article presents a selection of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article.

In 2022, there was an estimated 11 immigrants from non-EU countries per 1 000 residents in the EU.

Relative to the size of the resident population, Malta recorded the highest rate of immigration from EU and non-EU countries in 2022 (66 immigrants per 1 000 residents), followed by Luxembourg (48) and Estonia (37).

In contrast, Slovakia registered the lowest rate of immigration, with 1 immigrant per 1 000 residents, followed by Bulgaria and France, each with 6 immigrants per 1 000 residents.

Foreign-born population in 2023

On 1 January 2023, more than half (50.4%) of the population in Luxembourg was foreign-born. Malta (28.3%) and Cyprus (22.7%) completed the top 3 EU countries with the highest shares of foreign-born population.

In contrast, the lowest shares were recorded in Poland (2.5%), Bulgaria (2.6%) and Romania (2.8%).

In absolute terms, the largest numbers of foreign-born residents (from other EU countries and non-EU countries) were registered in Germany (16.5 million people), France (8.9 million) and Spain (8.2 million).

In relative terms, Luxembourg had by far the biggest share of residents born in another EU country, 33.2%, followed by Cyprus with 10.6% and Austria with 9.5%.

The lowest shares of residents born in other EU countries, below 1%, were recorded in Poland (0.6%), Lithuania (0.7%) and Bulgaria (0.9%).

When it comes to residents born in non-EU countries, the highest shares were recorded in Malta (20.9%), followed by Luxembourg (17.2%). Ireland, Sweden and Estonia recorded a 15.2% share each.

The lowest shares of non-EU-born residents were registered in Slovakia (1%), Bulgaria and Romania (1.7% each).

76 795 asylum applications in May 2024

In May 2024, 76 795 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in EU countries, a 5% decrease compared with May 2023 (80 455).

There were also 6 465 subsequent applicants, representing a 12% increase compared with May 2023 (5 755).

This information comes from the monthly asylum data published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on monthly asylum statistics.

Syrians, Venezuelans and Afghans remain the largest groups of asylum seekers

In May 2024, Syrians remained the largest group of people seeking asylum (11 460 first-time applicants). They were followed by Venezuelans (6 170) and Afghans (5 535).

Germany received the highest number of first-time applicants

Germany (18 175) continued to receive the highest number of first-time asylum applicants in May 2024, accounting for 24% of all first-time applicants in the EU.

In May 2024, the EU total of first-time asylum applicants was 17.1 per hundred thousand people. Compared with the population of each EU country (on 1 January 2024), the highest rates of first-time applicants were recorded in Ireland (37.4), followed by Greece (33.2), Spain (31.7) and Cyprus (29.9).

2 565 unaccompanied minors applying for asylum

In May 2024, 2 565 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU, with most of them coming from Syria (790) and Afghanistan (390).

The EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors was Germany (1 010), ahead of the Netherlands (360).