The number of people granted asylum in Denmark in 2025 is expected to be at a historically low level, according to the latest figures from the Danish Immigration Service released via the Ministry of Immigration and Integration.
Up to November last year, asylum was granted to 839 people. That puts the total on track to fall below 1,000 for only the fourth time since records began in 1983.
“This is a main priority for me,” Immigration and Integration Minister Rasmus Stoklund said in a press release, cited by Berlingske Tidende. “It is absolutely crucial that as few foreigners as possible come to Denmark and receive asylum. Therefore, I am very satisfied that there are still very few people who are granted asylum in Denmark.”
The last times Denmark recorded fewer than 1,000 asylum permits were in 2024, when 859 people were granted protection, in 2020 with 601 permits, and in 1983 with 689. By contrast, during the peak of the refugee crisis in 2015, Denmark granted asylum to 10,849 people, primarily to Syrian nationals.
Since then, the number of asylum approvals has generally declined. Under Danish law, a person may apply for asylum if they have a well-founded fear of persecution on grounds such as race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group. Asylum permits are time-limited and intended to allow temporary residence until protection is no longer needed.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has repeatedly argued that Europe’s asylum system is no longer functioning. She has said that “cynical human traffickers” have effectively taken control of who reaches Europe, while the most vulnerable refugees are left behind.
According to Stoklund, Denmark is continuing to push for a fundamental overhaul of the system at the European level. “At the European level, we are pushing for a new asylum system where we have more control over the influx into Europe,” he said. “That is why it is important that in December we agreed on legislation that can eventually move asylum processing completely out of Denmark and Europe.”
The sharp fall in asylum approvals comes as Frederiksen’s government signals a further hardening of immigration and deportation policy. In her New Year’s address on Jan. 5, the prime minister announced plans for a comprehensive deportation reform aimed at expelling more foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes, even if doing so tests the limits of the European Convention on Human Rights in its current format.
🇩🇰🚨 Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen used her New Year's address to promise ramped-up deportations for foreign criminals.
"We do not want your culture of dominance. You are destroying the most beautiful country in the world." pic.twitter.com/XKdbTmNXRn
— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) January 5, 2026“The government will soon present a comprehensive deportation reform,” Frederiksen said. “This will mean that even more criminal foreigners will have to be sent out of Denmark.”
She argued that public safety and victims must take precedence, adding, “In Denmark, when democracy and religion collide, it is God who has the right of way. Therefore, to the people who have come here and are committing crimes: You shouldn’t be here.”
Under the proposed reform, foreigners convicted of serious crimes and sentenced to at least one year in prison would be deported regardless of their length of stay or personal ties to Denmark, unless deportation would clearly violate international obligations.
