Unprecedented Refugee Situation in 2022
This year has seen an unprecedented number of refugees entering Germany without authorization, surpassing the figures from previous years with a notable halt in October. As of October, the Federal Police has recorded 112,178 unauthorized entries, a figure that exceeds the total registered in the prior year by nearly 20,000. The last time such a high count was recorded was back in 2015, marking a return to levels last seen during the refugee crisis.
Germany's Federal Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser (SPD), announced stationary border controls on October 16th to span across Germany's borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland, initially for ten days. These border controls were subsequently extended several times in response to the continued unauthorized refugee entries.
The trend of increased refugee entries began in February, witnessing a gradual rise throughout the year, only to spike drastically between September and October. The Federal Police reported 21,366 unauthorized entries in September, with the number jumping to 20,059 in October alone.
As a whole, approximately 267,000 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time in 2022, representing a nearly 70% increase compared to the figures from the same period in 2021.
The surge in unauthorized refugee entries has led to increased crime incidents and required a stronger police presence in certain areas. Despite the halt in October, 2022 is predicted to surpass 2015's record levels in terms of refugees entering Germany without permission, creating a challenging situation for law enforcement.
Insights from Enrichment Data
In 2024, the number of unauthorized refugee entries recorded in Germany dropped to 83,572, which still did not exceed the 2015 record during the refugee crisis, which reached nearly 220,000 due to a significant influx of refugees from Middle Eastern and North African conflicts. The 2024 figure is a noticeable decline from the 127,549 entries recorded in 2023, attributed to measures such as repatriations and extended border controls.[^3]
Footnotes
[^3]: [Enrichment Data]
