In March 2025, 57 925 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in EU countries, marking a 23% decrease compared with March 2024 (75 040) and a 2% decline compared with February 2025 (59 085).
There were also 7 430 subsequent applicants, representing a 4% increase compared with March 2024 (7 170) and a 3% fall compared with February 2025 (7 630).
In the first quarter of 2025, 198 570 first instance decisions were issued in the EU, down 1% compared with the previous quarter (199 980) and up 7% compared with the same period of the previous year (184 865). Out of these first instance decisions, 33% were positive (66 315).
This information comes from the monthly and quarterly asylum data published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained articles on monthly asylum applications statistics and on quarterly asylum decisions statistics.
Source dataset: migr_asyappctzm
Largest group of asylum seekers from Venezuela
In March 2025, Venezuelans remained the largest group of people seeking asylum (8 600 first-time applicants), followed by Afghans (5 650) and Bangladeshis (3 145).
Spain, Italy, France and Germany received 78% of first-time applicants
Spain (13 335), Italy (12 390), France (10 690) and Germany (8 975) received the highest number of first-time asylum applicants, accounting for 78% of all first-time applicants in the EU.
The EU total rate of first-time asylum applicants in March 2025 was 12.9 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 Greece (39.6), ahead of Cyprus (31.0) and Spain (27.4).
1 595 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum
Source dataset: migr_asyumactm
In March 2025, a total of 1 595 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum for the first time in the EU. The highest numbers came from Syria (250), Afghanistan (240) and Venezuela (150).
The EU country that received the highest number of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors was Germany (485), followed by Spain (330) and Greece (160).
Positive asylum decisions down by a third
In the first quarter of 2025, EU countries granted protection status at first instance to 66 315 asylum seekers, down 33% compared with the fourth quarter of 2024 (99 390).
Among asylum seekers granted protection status at first instance in the EU, 49% received refugee status, 26% received humanitarian status and 25% were given subsidiary protection.
Germany (15 590), ahead of France (12 625) and Spain (11 565) issued the highest numbers of positive decisions at first instance. Afghans (18 500), Venezuelans (8 675) and Ukrainians (4 285) were the main beneficiaries of protection status in the EU in the first quarter of 2025.