The number of migrants living in the European Union (E.U.) reached a record-breaking 64.2 million by 2025, a study published Wednesday revealed.
The study, conducted by the Centre for Research and Analysis on Migration at RFBerlin, shockingly found that the amount of foreign-born individuals in the EU has skyrocketed over the past 15 years, going from around 40 million in 2010 to over 64 million in 2025. The study draws from official statistic data by Eurostat and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Per the study’s findings, foreign-born population across the EU increased by some 2.1 million between 2024-2025, an amount that, while slightly bellow the 2.6 million increase documented between 2024 and 2024, is still “high by historical standards.”
“Immigration in the European Union (EU) has reached historically high levels. Over the past fifteen years, the EU’s foreign-born population has expanded substantially, reflecting both long-term migration trends and major recent displacement episodes,” the study read.
Germany remains the main destination for migrants, going from 10 million foreign-born in 2018 to nearly 18 million by 2025. While Germany remains in the lead, Spain — whose socialist government is presently amid a process to grant mass amnesty to half a million illegal migrants — is described in the study as the European country with the fastest growth in migrant population in recent years, adding roughly 700,000 more foreign-born residents during 2025 alone for a total of of some 9.5 million.
Spain alone accounted for roughly a third of the entire foreign-born population growth in the EU during 2025, the study found.
In terms of asylum applications across the EU, the study found that 669,365 such applications were filed in 2026, a 26.6 percent decrease when compared to 2024. Germany, Spain, Italy, and France collectively accounted for nearly three-quarters of all asylum applications in the past year, with each country notably having dissecting origin-country profiles.
In Germany, 53 percent of all first-instance asylum applicants came from Afghanistan, Syria, and Turkey. In Spain, 60 percent came from Venezuela, and 11 percent from Mali. In Italy, roughly half of all applicants are nationals from Bangladesh, Peru, Egypt, and Pakistan, while in France the composition is more spread, with nationals of Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, and Haiti as the top four countries of origin, collectively representing 36 percent of the total.
Germany also leads as the EU country with the largest refugee population within its borders at an estimated 2.7 million, while Cyprus is the bloc’s country with the highest refugee share relative to its population — in contrast, Italy stands as the EU. nation with the smallest relative share of refugees.
“Germany remains the main destination for migrants in Europe, both in absolute terms and, to a significant extent, relative to its population,” Tommaso Frattini, one of the authors of the report, told Reuters.
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