Number of asylum seekers in Denmark 2022, by country of origin

In 2022, the highest number of asylum seekers in Denmark came from Ukraine. This does not included refugees who were granted protection under the Special Act Directive. That year, more than 2,000 people from Ukraine applied for asylum in the country. Next to Ukraine, Afghanistan and Syria were the two most common countries of origin for asylum applicants in Denmark in 2022.

Fewer asylum applications

In 2021, Denmark received 4,600 asylum applications. After peaking in 2015 in the aftermath of the influx of refugees to Europe that year, the number of asylum applicants arriving in Denmark ahs decreased. This is a result of external factors such as tighter control at the borders of the EU, that the war in Syria has moved into a new phase, and COVID-19, but also the internal factor of stricter asylum laws implemented by the government. These tightened immigration laws have resulted in both fewer asylum requests and fewer grants of asylum.

Sweden: a different picture

In the neighboring country Sweden, a significantly higher number of people applied for asylum. Until 2016, Sweden had one of the most generous asylum laws in the European Union. Like Denmark, however, Sweden sharpened its asylum laws in the wake of the so-called refugee crisis in 2015. Yet nearly 17,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden in 2022, a number more than three times higher than in Denmark. In a similar fashion, the number of asylums granted also declined significantly during this period.