Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Kirsten Grieshaber

Number of asylum seekers in Germany jumps 50 per cent in a year to 350,000

AP

The number of people applying for asylum in Germany last year rose to 351,915, an increase of 51.1 percent compared with the year before.

The largest number of asylum-seekers came from Syria, with 104,561 applications, followed by Turkish citizens with 62,624 asylum pleas and 53,582 Afghans, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has said.

Migration has become a huge political problem for the government and a hot-button topic in Germany as local communities are struggling to house the many newcomers.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who faces enormous pressure from the opposition and elsewhere to halt the trend, has said that "too many are coming."

Late last year, Scholz and the 16 state governors agreed on new and stricter measures to curb the high number of migrants flowing into the country, reaching a compromise that included speeding up asylum procedures, benefit restrictions for asylum-seekers and more financial aid from the federal government for the states and local communities dealing with the influx.

Germany has also taken in more than one million Ukrainians since the start of Russia's war in their homeland.

In the autumn, Germany introduced temporary border controls at its frontiers with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. The Central European country has been conducting similar systematic checks at its border with Austria since 2015.

In a further measure to curb the number of migrants in the country, the government has also been trying to to facilitate deportations of unsuccessful asylum-seekers and stiffen the punishment of people smuggling migrants.

Last year's numbers are still far below the figures from 2015-16, when more than 1 million migrants came to Germany, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Still, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that "the asylum figures for 2023 show that we must consistently continue our course to limit irregular migration."

"We protect people from war and terror," she added. "On the other hand, those who do not need protection must also leave our country."

Associated Press

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.