Afghan asylum seekers dominate EU applications, with Germany as primary destination
Afghans filed the most asylum requests in Europe during the first half of 2026, and Germany received over half of those applications.
The EU Asylum Agency’s half-year review shows Afghan citizens submitted the highest number of asylum claims in Europe for the first six months of 2026, surpassing all other nationalities. Out of roughly 332,000 total applications in the 27 EU states, Norway and Switzerland, Germany handled the biggest portion of Afghan cases, exceeding fifty percent of that group’s filings. While total asylum requests across the region declined, Afghan applications fell only modestly, resulting in a growing share of the overall pool.
The agency attributes the rise to a significant increase in follow-up applications by Afghan women who already live in Europe and are now seeking full refugee protection to secure broader rights such as family reunification. Follow-up requests represented sixteen percent of all applications, the highest share in recent years, while first-time applications dropped by twenty-one percent. German authorities granted refugee or subsidiary protection in about seventy-nine percent of Afghan cases, a rate higher than most other countries.
