Migration: The countries of origin of those who fled to Germany in 2023

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) has rejected CSU leader Markus Söder’s proposal of an annual upper limit for refugees in Germany. “Upper limits simply cannot be adhered to because we have European law, international law, we cannot reduce the individual right to asylum on our own,” said Faeser on Sunday evening in the ARD program “Anne Will” and added: “We are on the Geneva Refugee Convention, bound to the European Convention on Human Rights.” Meanwhile, Söder called on Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to make the issue of migration a top priority.

Faeser said: “The only thing that will really help is a European solution.” The European Union needs to do more in terms of distribution. The municipalities are at their limits.

Söder calls “integration limit”

The Bavarian Prime Minister Söder had discussed an “integration limit” for the admission of refugees of around 200,000 people. In the program “Anne Will” he reiterated that the number 200,000 was a benchmark “in which integration in our country can still be successful.” We need border protection, a stop to special admission programs that only Germany offers, repatriation and a change in incentives, for example with citizens’ money. Söder emphasized that he was not in favor of abolishing individual asylum. “We need a shift towards a sustainable migration policy.”

Statistics on the refugees’ countries of origin

But where do the people who will apply for asylum in Germany in 2023 come from? A look at the statistics from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) provides information for the year 2023 so far, including August. In any case, the much discussed North African countries Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco are not in the top ten.

Sources:, DPA, AFP.