The number of asylum applications in Germany fell to its lowest level since 2012 in May 2026. According to the Ministry of the Interior, only 5,566 such applications were submitted across the country last month.
In May 2026, the number of asylum applications in Germany fell to its lowest level in the past 14 years. As reported on Tuesday, June 2, by the German Ministry of the Interior, only 5,566 such applications were submitted across the country last month, according to the dpa agency. According to a representative of the Ministry of the Interior, this is the lowest figure since May 2012, when 4,880 initial applications were submitted. This statistic does not include the year 2020, when particularly few people arrived in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the ministry, in April 2026, the number of asylum requests was still 30 percent higher than a month later. Compared to May 2023, the decrease after exactly three years amounted to 75 percent.
The Minister of the Interior Sees the Decrease in Applications as a Success of His Policy
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt assessed this trend as a success of the policy pursued by his department. "The turning point in the migration situation continues," he stated to the Bild newspaper. "Our goal remains effective regulation of migration and further reduction of the burden."
The trend of decreasing asylum applications in Germany has persisted for several months. Experts have identified one of the main reasons for this as the decrease in applications from Syria and Ukraine. In particular, the head of the federal Ministry of the Interior links the decrease in asylum requests to ongoing checks and the rejection of applications directly at the borders of Germany.
Immigration to Germany Significantly Decreased in 2025
In 2025, about 1.48 million people moved to Germany - 13 percent less than the previous year, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany in Wiesbaden, published the day before. At the same time, 1.25 million people left the country - 2% less than the year before.
Thus, net immigration - the difference between arrivals and departures - amounted to approximately 230,000 people, which is 45% less than the figure for 2024. The peak for this indicator - 1.462 million - was recorded in 2022, triggered by the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
According to the agency, one of the reasons is that fewer people arrived from the main countries of origin of asylum seekers last year. For instance, the number of arrivals from Syria was 67 percent lower than in 2024, while from Turkey and Afghanistan it was down by 41 percent. The number of migrants from Ukraine decreased by 21% (to 96,000 people) compared to 2024.
