The number of refugees in Germany who have voluntarily returned to their home countries has risen sharply in the past year.
In 2024, 10,358 people took the opportunity to return home with the help of state agencies in Germany, while in 2025 the number increased to 16,576, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported on Monday.
Media group Funke was the first to report it.
– Sixty percent more voluntary returns than the previous year: This is an important component in the reversal of migration – said German Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt.
The main reason for the increase is the end of the civil war in Syria at the end of 2024, which made it possible to restart the suspended return program to that country.
More than half of the increase of over 6,000 returnees is attributed to Syrian refugees, who made up 3,678 of the total. There was also an increase of more than 1,000 people who voluntarily returned to Turkey in 2025.
At the end of 2024, the long-time Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad’s regime was overthrown. The overthrow marked the end of a civil war that had lasted more than a decade. However, violent conflicts have continued to occur since then.
From September 2025, BAMF will again decide on asylum applications from Syria. By the end of 2024, the vast majority of requests from the people of Syria had been granted, but after the end of the civil war, decisions were temporarily suspended until the political situation was clarified.
(Vijesti.ba/Fena)
