Sweden Cuts Refugee Quota to 900 as Asylum Claims Drop From 160,000 to 6,700
Updated
Updated · The Conversation · Sep 7
Sweden Cuts Refugee Quota to 900 as Asylum Claims Drop From 160,000 to 6,700
3 articles · Updated · The Conversation · Sep 7
Summary
Sweden has completed a decade-long turn from one of Europe’s most open asylum systems to one of its most restrictive, with reforms now spanning asylum, family migration, labor migration, citizenship, detention and deportation.
160,000 asylum applications in 2015 — including 35,000 unaccompanied minors — strained the system and triggered a cross-party shift toward tighter rules, temporary permits and border controls.
Since the 2022 election, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s government, backed by the Sweden Democrats, has tightened family reunification and humanitarian permits and cut the refugee resettlement quota from 5,000 to 900.
6,700 first-time asylum applications were registered in 2025, with a 23% approval rate, and the Migration Agency expects applications to fall further to 4,200 in 2026 and 3,700 in 2027.
September 13’s election is set to center less on whether restrictive migration stays and more on which bloc voters trust to keep it, as even the Social Democrats now back most of the tougher line.