Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has issued a stark warning in its 2025 annual report: right-wing extremism remains the single most severe threat to the country’s democratic foundations, and the number of identified right-wing extremists jumped dramatically year-over-year to 58,700.
This marks an increase of more than 8,000 extremists compared to 2024, a shift BfV leadership attributes largely to the rapid expansion of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the country’s leading far-right political party. Of the total right-wing extremist population tracked by the agency, an estimated 5,600 are assessed to have an active propensity for violence.
BfV President Sinan Selen emphasized that German democracy faces near-constant assault from both domestic and foreign actors. The report notes that hostile foreign intelligence operations targeting German interests originate primarily from three key states: Russia, China, and Iran.
The AfD, which secured a historic second-place finish in 2025 federal elections, captured 20.8% of the national vote and 152 seats in the 630-seat Bundestag. Its total membership swelled to 70,000 by the end of last year, and the party is currently polling at approximately 40% ahead of September state elections in Saxony-Anhalt — a result that would give it an outright majority and allow it to form Germany’s first far-right state-level government. As the party prepares to host its national conference this weekend in the eastern city of Erfurt, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt has publicly warned of potential violence linked to planned protests against the gathering, stressing that all demonstrations must remain strictly peaceful.
Last year, the BfV formally designated the AfD as a confirmed right-wing extremist group. However, that classification was put on hold in February after the party filed a legal challenge to the ruling, and a final court decision is still pending. The agency currently retains the AfD on its list of suspected extremist organizations. In its latest report, the BfV concluded that “given the rising membership figures, it can be assumed that the pool of individuals with extremist leanings within the AfD has also expanded accordingly.” It added that the party and other right-wing groups regularly amplify well-known extremist and conspiracy narratives, including the racist “Great Replacement” theory, also referred to as “population exchange,” which has become a core talking point for far-right movements globally.
Beyond the AfD, the report identifies roughly 26,000 extremists belonging to two separate far-right factions: the Reichsbürger (Reich Citizens) and Selbstverwalter (Self-Administrator) movements. Both groups reject the legitimacy of the modern Federal Republic of Germany, refuse to recognize the country’s constitution, legal system, and governing institutions, and routinely spread anti-Semitic rhetoric and conspiracy ideology, per the BfV’s analysis.
The report also highlights growing extremism across other ideological factions. The number of tracked left-wing extremists rose by 4,200 year-over-year to hit 42,200, with a notable increase in violent attacks targeting suspected right-wing figures and German law enforcement officers. Additionally, the number of individuals linked to Islamist extremism and terrorism saw a small uptick, reaching 28,645.
Far-right groups are also increasingly targeting vulnerable young people for recruitment, the BfV found, turning out large audiences at far-right music events — a recruitment channel that hit a record high attendance last year. The expansion of this youth outreach has contributed directly to the overall growth in extremist numbers, the agency noted.
The 2024 classification of the AfD drew sharp international criticism from top U.S. officials at the time: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled the move “tyranny in disguise,” while Vice President JD Vance claimed Germany was “rebuilding the Berlin Wall” to exclude right-wing voices. German officials pushed back against the criticism at the time, defending the BfV’s intelligence assessment as a necessary step to protect democratic order.