Refugee Wave 2015: Who Came and Who Stayed?
In the summer and autumn of 2015, Europe faced one of the largest refugee movements in modern history. Hundreds of thousands fled in search of safety, most of them due to the civil war in Syria. When Germany announced the suspension of the Dublin Regulation for Syrians, Austria became a major transit point. More than 700,000 refugees crossed its borders, but most continued their journey to other destinations.
In that year, 88,340 people applied for asylum in Austria, a sharp increase compared to previous years. However, that number was not the highest in the country's history. In 2022, following the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan and the return of Taliban rule, Austria recorded a record 112,272 asylum applications. Despite the changing numbers over the years, 2015 is still seen as a critical turning point in Austria's discussions on immigration and asylum.
Between 2015 and 2025, 122,967 Syrians and 95,018 Afghans applied for asylum in Austria. In total, the authorities granted asylum or subsidiary protection to 195,000 people, while 16,522 others received humanitarian residence permits. Most applicants were men, with their applications totaling 237,445, while 152,388 came from children, and only over 52,000 from women. Among them were also more than 41,000 unaccompanied minors.
Austria received more individual asylum applications than almost any other European country, with only Cyprus rivaling it. At the same time, many applications were closed between 2020 and 2024, often because their owners left the country or returned to other countries. It is difficult to determine the exact numbers of those who are still in Austria from the arrivals in 2015, but research from the Integration Fund indicates that about 60 percent of these refugees still hold residence permits in 2024.
Vienna remains the primary place where most refugees with legal status reside. Social assistance data indicates that the majority of beneficiaries of the "minimum income" live in the capital. However, contrary to claims promoted by some right-wing parties that refugees are a burden on the social welfare system, figures from the Office of Asylum Coordination show that the percentage of refugees receiving this assistance has remained stable between 0.8 and 0.9 percent of the total population since 2017. Currently, among 11,500 asylum seekers receiving basic support, about 2,900 live in Vienna, 2,200 in Upper Austria, and 1,300 in Tyrol.