First-time asylum applications in EU countries fell by 27% in 2025 to 669,400, down from 912,400 the year before.
The data cover non-EU citizens applying for international protection — the EU term for asylum and related forms of protection — for the first time, Eurostat said in a release on Wednesday.
Venezuelans made the most first-time applications in 2025, with 89,500 cases, or 13% of the EU total.
Afghans were second with 63,800 applications (10%), followed by Syrians with 40,000 (6%).
Syrians had been the largest group of first-time asylum applicants each year from 2013 to 2024.
Spain led EU countries for first-time asylum claims
Spain received the highest number of first-time applicants in 2025, at 141,000, representing 21% of the EU total, Eurostat said.
Italy followed with 126,600 (19%), then France with 116,400 (17%), Germany with 113,200 (17%) and Greece with 55,400 (8%).
Those five countries accounted for 83% of all first-time asylum applications in the EU in 2025.
Measured against population size, there were 1.5 first-time asylum applicants per 1,000 people across the EU in 2025.
Greece recorded the highest rate at 5.3 per 1,000, followed by Cyprus and Spain at 2.9 each.
The EU also received 21,125 first-time asylum applications from unaccompanied minors in 2025, with 2,690 from Afghanistan — 13% of the total.
Germany recorded the most applications from unaccompanied minors at 4,925, followed by the Netherlands (3,615) and Spain (3,210).
