So, the EU just released new numbers on asylum applications, and things have shifted quite a bit. In the first half of this year, around 400,000 people applied for asylum across the

EU, plus Switzerland and Norway. That’s actually a big drop — about 23% fewer applications compared to the same period in 2024.

France, Spain, Germany, and Italy got the most applications, with France slightly ahead at about 78,000. What’s interesting is that Germany, which for years was usually the top destination, isn’t number one anymore.

The decline is mostly linked to what happened in Syria. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last December, far fewer Syrians are seeking asylum in Europe. For the first time in over a decade, they’re no longer the largest group. Instead, Venezuelans now top the list with nearly 50,000 applications, followed by Afghans at around 42,000.

In short: fewer people are seeking asylum overall, the usual patterns are shifting, and Europe is seeing more arrivals from Latin America than from war-torn Syria for the first time in years. Photo by Mstyslav Chernov, Wikimedia commons.