Syrian asylum applications drop significantly in EU after fall of Bashar al-Assad

The fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria has led to a significant change in the asylum landscape in the EU+, according to the first monthly dataset for 2025 published by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), Report informs.

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.