Denmark granted asylum to a record low of 860 people last year, a dramatic drop driven by the government's strict 'zero-refugee' policy, according to official figures released on 10 February 2025. The country of about six million received 2,300 asylum requests in 2024, but only a fraction were approved, marking the lowest number on record except for 2020 when Covid-19 lockdowns halted arrivals.
Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek called the figure 'historic', attributing it to policies pursued by Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen since she took office in 2019. Frederiksen, who leads a centre-left coalition, has maintained tough immigration measures influenced by right-wing parties over the past two decades. She told the Financial Times last year that the approach, including revoking residency permits for Syrian refugees, appeals to left-leaning working-class voters.
In contrast, the UK granted nearly 68,000 asylum claims in the year to June 2024, according to Home Office figures, despite having a population ten times larger than Denmark's. Denmark has negotiated an opt-out from the EU's common asylum policy and introduced measures such as the 'anti-ghetto law' in 2018, which aims to reduce non-Western residents in certain housing areas to below 30% by 2030. Critics have denounced these policies as discriminatory, but Bek insisted there is 'broad consensus' on reducing migration.
The decline mirrors a trend in neighbouring Sweden, which reported its lowest asylum numbers in 40 years, granting just 6,250 residence permits in 2024, excluding Ukrainians. Sweden, which took in 163,000 asylum seekers during the 2015 migrant crisis, has since reversed its stance. Frederiksen met UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on 4 February to discuss migration and other issues.
