Almost a third of asylum seekers are minors

Asylum seekers in Germany are mostly young and male - so far, so well known. New figures from the BAMF now show a more accurate picture. According to these figures, minors are the largest group among first-time applicants. It also shows that the proportion of young men in the total volume is increasing again.

Children and young people are the largest group of asylum seekers in Germany, according to the latest figures from the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). According to these figures, 31.4 percent of all first-time applicants were under the age of 18. A good 12 percent were even younger than 4 years old. Among young people aged between 11 and under 18, there is a strong preponderance of boys and young men. Among the younger children, boys and girls are roughly balanced. The applications are usually submitted by the parents.

The next largest age group follows on directly from this: A quarter (25.1 percent) of applicants were aged between 18 and 25. The two youngest age groups therefore account for a good half of all first-time applications this year. Only around 10 percent were aged 40 or older. According to the BAMF, a total of 304,581 asylum applications were submitted between January and November, 71.4 percent of which were from men and boys. Almost two thirds of the applications came from people from Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan.

Minors cannot apply for asylum themselves. If they have come to Germany alone without their parents, a guardian such as the youth welfare office can take over, according to the BAMF. The BAMF report does not reveal how many of the underage applicants were unaccompanied in the current year. A report by the Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs states that 17,657 unaccompanied minors were under the responsibility of child and youth welfare services on October 31 of the previous year.

The figures also show that only in three years since 1953 have more asylum applications been made in Germany. Including follow-up applications, the total number from January to November 2023 was just under 326,000. Only in 1992 (438,000), 2015 (477,000) and 2016 (746,000) was the number (including follow-up applications) higher. Refugees from Ukraine in 2022 and 2023 were not included in the statistics - presumably because they did not have to be recorded by the BAMF.

Proportion of young and younger men on the rise

The BAMF figures also show that the proportion of men aged between 16 and 40 has risen sharply over the past five years. From January to November 2023, around half of first-time applicants (50.7%) belonged to this group. In 2019 and 2020, it was just over a quarter (26.2 and 26.6 percent).

The proportion of younger male asylum seekers was last similarly high in 2015 and 2016, when it was 47.4% and 42.9% respectively, according to the BAMF. At that time, there was generally a high proportion of men among the applications. This year, too, it was mainly men (71.7%) who applied for asylum in Germany.

In contrast, the gender ratio was more balanced in the years 2018 to 2020. There is no single cause for the sharp increase in the proportion of younger male asylum seekers, according to migration expert Marcus Engler from the German Center for Integration and Migration Research. "Basically, long and dangerous escape routes are a key explanation for the gender imbalance," he says.

According to the BAMF, the age or gender of the majority of asylum applicants is influenced by their country of origin. The composition changes from year to year. Since around 2020, the number of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria arriving in Germany has increased again, as BAMF figures show. Engler explains that when more people come from countries that require a long and dangerous escape route, more men often come as well.

According to the researcher, the situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power could be an explanatory factor for the data. In addition, tougher border policies in Turkey and Greece made fleeing more dangerous and more expensive, which could also lead to more men taking the routes.