Italy rejected 2,220 Nigerian asylum applications in 2025, while 1,175 Nigerians received some form of international or national protection, according to a new report on the Italian asylum system.
The figures come from the Asylum Information Database 2025 country report on Italy, produced by the Association for Legal Studies on Immigration, known as ASGI, under a project coordinated by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles.
Nigerians filed 3,385 asylum applications in Italy during the year, making Nigeria the only sub-Saharan African country among the ten nationalities that filed the most applications. Of the 3,390 decisions recorded on Nigerian cases in 2025, 660 applicants received full refugee status, a recognition rate of 19.47 per cent. Another 55 Nigerians were granted subsidiary protection and 460 received Italy’s national special protection status.
Full refugee status applies to people facing persecution over race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group. Subsidiary protection covers people facing serious harm who do not qualify for refugee status, while special protection is a separate category under Italian national law.
The 1,175 approvals combined into an overall protection rate of 34.66 per cent for Nigerians, above Italy’s national average of about 30 per cent. Thousands of Nigerian cases remain unresolved, with 4,120 applications pending before Italian authorities as of December 31, 2025.
Across all nationalities, Italy registered 126,635 first-time asylum applications in 2025, down from 151,120 in 2024 but well above the 77,200 recorded in 2022. Authorities issued 104,560 first-instance decisions during the year, and the overall protection rate, including special protection, fell to 30 per cent from 35 per cent in 2024.
Nigeria remains one of the largest sources of asylum seekers crossing the central Mediterranean into Italy, a route that also carries heavy risks of trafficking and abuse. The decision figures affect Nigerians already in Italy rather than new visa applicants, but the outcome balance matters for community members weighing the journey, and for officials in Abuja monitoring treatment of citizens abroad.
Sources: Arbiterz
Something we should clarify?
Contact the newsroom
