The Danish government has granted asylum to a “historically” low number of individuals in 2024, according to officials.
A total of 864 asylum applications were approved, with 309 coming from Syria, 130 from Eritrea, and 130 from Afghanistan. This marks one of the lowest figures in the last 40 years, only surpassed by the 2020 total when COVID-19 lockdowns were in effect, as noted by Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek.
The sharp decrease is attributed to the “strict asylum policy” pursued by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has aimed to limit the number of people seeking refuge in Denmark. In an interview with TV 2, Bek emphasized that Denmark should only admit as many asylum seekers as “society can handle.”
Frederiksen, who assumed power in 2019 on an anti-immigration platform, has expressed her intention to reduce asylum applications in Denmark to “zero.” The centre-left leader recently warned Europe’s left-wing parties that they must adopt stricter immigration measures if they hope to counter the growing influence of right-wing parties across the continent.
Denmark has steadily introduced stricter immigration policies over the past decade. In 2021, the country passed a controversial law allowing for the relocation of immigrants to asylum centers in partner countries—a decision that was heavily criticized by the European Commission at the time.
