Germany: nearly 1.1 million migrants arrived last year

According to Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior, 1.1 million migrants have registered to seek asylum in Germany this past year with more on the way in 2016.

The figures confirm that the majority of new arrivals are fleeing war and conflict in the Middle East. There has been a debate in Germany about getting tough on migrants who are leaving their homes for economic reasons. Afghans and Iraqis followed by 154,046 and 121,662, respectively.

Syrian refugees Reem Habashieh, Raghad Habashieh, Yaman Habashieh and Mohammed Habashieh, from left to right, visit the Christmas market in Zwickau, eastern Germany on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015.

“The number of people who arrived in Germany with the goal of applying for asylum is much higher” De Maizieresaid in a press release. The fourth- and fifth-biggest groups of asylum-seekers a year ago came from Albania and Kosovo. While 206,101 arrived in Germany in November, only 127,320 did so in the final month of 2015, the Interior Ministry said. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Germany was facing its biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War.

“We will work in all policy areas towards sharply reducing the number of new asylum seekers to Germany”, he said. The government said that 476,649 people formally applied last year – the highest number on record and more than double the previous year’s figure of 202,834.

There’s widespread agreement on that in Germany, but disagreement on how to go about it. “We must wait and see what happens in this field in January and February… and then evaluate what we need in addition”.

The annual arrivals were around five times more than in 2014.

“It is very important to me that we achieve both a noticeable reduction in the flow of refugees… and at the same time preserve the free movement of people within the European Union”, she told reporters at a conference of her Bavarian allies, the CSU.