Overview
- Authorities recorded about 1.694 million arrivals and 1.264 million departures in 2024, leaving a migration balance of roughly 430,000 that was down by more than a third from 2023.
- Naturalizations reached 292,020 in 2024, an increase of 45.9 percent that the report ties to the reformed nationality law.
- First-time asylum applications fell 30.2 percent year over year to 229,751, with applicants from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey forming the largest groups.
- In an EU comparison, Germany and Spain received the most asylum applications in 2024, and Germany posted the largest absolute decline versus the previous year.
- Registered newly arrived skilled and working migrants dropped to about 54,600 even as employment visas rose to roughly 172,400, which the report attributes to undercounting and delayed registrations.