The number of asylum requests made in the Netherlands fell sharply to almost 45,600 last year, Trouw reported on Tuesday.

In 2023, 50,660 people requested asylum in the Netherlands, and in 2022, at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic which shut down international travel, there were 48,600 requests.

The decline was particularly notable in the second half of the year, Trouw said.

The decrease in requests also applies to applications from family members and repeat requests from people whose initial application did not succeed.

Up to and including November, just under 30,000 initial requests for asylum were made. Family members applying to join people already granted refugee status in the Netherlands amounted to 25% of the total.

The figures do not include December, when Assad’s regime fell in Syria. Syrians account for some 44% of all requests for refugee status. Iraq, Turkey, Eritrea, and Yemen each account for around 5% of the total.

The right-wing Dutch cabinet has pledged to introduce the “strictest refugee regime ever” but has not yet made any changes to the current system.

Immigration minister Marjolein Faber introduced three pieces of legislation aimed at deterring refugees from coming to the Netherlands in December, just before parliament broke up for the winter break.

Trouw said that refugee numbers have also fallen sharply in Germany and Sweden.