Number of refugees in Germany rises by 4% to 3.3 million
The number of refugees living in Germany rose by 4.1% to 3.3 million in 2024, official figures showed on Monday.
Germany’s Central Register of Foreign Nationals (AZR) registered 132,000 more individuals living in the country with a protected status due to international law, humanitarian reasons or political persecution.
The figures, published by the Federal Statistical Office, include those officially categorized as refugees, as well as those with limited protection status.
Around 1 million Ukrainians live in Germany with a protected status, as well as 713,000 Syrians, 348,000 Afghans, 190,000 Iraqis and 157,000 Turks.
Around 277,000 people from Africa have a protected status in Germany – of which around half come from East African countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea – in addition to only 22,000 from the Americas.
According to the statisticians, refugees were on average just under 32 years old and have been living in Germany for around 6.5 years.
Women made up 45% of the total, although 59% of Ukrainian refugees.
Children and teenagers under the age of 18 formed 27% of the refugee population.
While Ukrainians in Germany are on average 35 years old, Syrian and Afghan refugees were younger at 28 and 27 years on average respectively.
The majority of refugees – 82% or 2.7 million people – had a valid residence permit, while 427,000 had an open status, meaning that a legally binding decision has not yet been made in their case.
Some 171,000 are obliged to leave the country after seeing their applications rejected, of which 136,000 enjoy tolerated status – meaning they cannot be deported, because they are ill, have insufficient documents or due to other reasons.
The issue of migration has been a major theme in German politics for many years.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s new government has sought to impose harsher measures, including turning away asylum seekers at the border and limiting family reunification for some categories of refugees.
