Number of asylum requests halved in Q1 2025

The number of requests was the highest among people from Syria (21 percent of the total), with more than 900 asylum applications. That was 68 percent less than the same period last year, when more than 2.9 thousand Syrians requested asylum. The number of asylum applications from Iraqis and Yemenis also fell sharply in the first quarter of 2025. A total of 1.2 thousand people from Iraq and 470 Yemen applied for asylum in Q1 of 2024. In Q1 of 2025, those numbers had fallen to 110 and 85 first-time asylum applications, respectively.

People from Türkiye (Turkey) made up the second largest group of asylum seekers (325 asylum applications), followed by Eritreans (235 asylum applications). However, the number of applications for these groups also fell.

Half of Eritrean asylum seekers were younger than 18

Three-quarters of people who submitted a first-time asylum application in Q1 2025 were aged under 35, and a quarter were aged under 18. The share of minors was particularly high among Eritrean asylum seekers: half of them were minors.

The largest number of asylum applications were submitted by men: over two-thirds of applications in Q1 2025. Among asylum seekers from Türkiye, 78 percent were men.

More family member arrivals
In Q1 2025, 3.7 thousand following family members arrived in the Netherlands. That was up by 455 on the previous quarter, an increase of 14 percent. More than 81 percent of following family members came from Syria - a total of more than 3 thousand people, compared to 2.5 thousand in Q4 of 2024.