Denmark cut asylum figures to historic low in 2025: govt

Denmark’s strict immigration policies drove asylum admissions to a historic low in 2025, with 839 requests granted by the end of November, the government announced Saturday. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 10 January 2026
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Denmark cut asylum figures to historic low in 2025: govt

  • “My main priority is to limit the influx of refugees,” said Stoklund
  • Denmark registered 1,835 asylum requests by November 2025

COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s strict immigration policies drove asylum admissions to a historic low in 2025, with 839 requests granted by the end of November, the government announced Saturday.
“It is absolutely critical that as few foreigners as possible come to Denmark and obtain asylum. My main priority is to limit the influx of refugees,” said Immigration Minister Rasmus Stoklund in a press release.
According to the ministry, “there have been very few years when the annual total remained below 1,000 ... 2025 will be a year with a historically low number of residence permits granted on asylum grounds.”
Denmark registered 1,835 asylum requests by November 2025.
The country’s immigration approach has been influenced by far-right parties for more than 20 years, and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the head of the Social Democrats, has pursued a “zero refugee” policy since coming to power in 2019.
Copenhagen has over the years implemented a slew of initiatives to discourage migrants and make Danish citizenship harder to obtain.
In 2024, the country of six million people accepted some 860 of the 2,333 asylum requests lodged that year.


Man charged after defacing Churchill statue in central London

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Man charged after defacing Churchill statue in central London

Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio was charged early Saturday, some 24 hours after his arrest
He had been detained within minutes of officers being alerted to the incident

LONDON: London police said Saturday a man had been charged with criminal damage for defacing a statue of Britain’s World War II prime minister Winston Churchill with pro-Palestinian slogans.
The monument in the central Parliament Square was smeared with red paint early on Friday and “Zionist war criminal” among the slogans written on it.
The Metropolitan Police said Caspar San Giorgio, 38, of no fixed address, was charged early Saturday, some 24 hours after his arrest.
He had been detained within minutes of officers being alerted to the incident, according to the force.
He was due to appear at a London magistrates’ court later Saturday.
The words “free Palestine” and “stop the genocide” were also sprayed on the statue, which workers cleaned off Friday.
The incident prompted Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office to call the damage “completely abhorrent” and commend police for the swift arrest.
“Churchill was a great Briton,” a spokesman said.
The 3.6 meter (12-foot) Churchill statue has been vandalized a number of times in recent years, including during Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion climate demonstrations in 2020.