Spain has overtaken Germany as the main destination for asylum seekers in the European Union, following the sudden collapse of Syria’s Assad regime and a steep decline in Syrian migration to Europe, according to an unpublished report by the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA).
The report, seen by the Financial Times, says the agency recorded 64,000 asylum applications across the EU in May 2025—a 24% decrease compared to the same month last year. The sharpest fall came from Syrians, whose claims plummeted from around 16,000 in October 2024 to just 3,100 in May. For the first time in over a decade, Germany no longer tops the list, with its monthly claims halving to 9,900. Spain now leads with 12,800 applications, fuelled in part by rising numbers from Venezuela amid that country’s economic collapse.
