New figures from the German Interior Ministry show that a record number of 1.1 million asylum-seekers arrived in 2015, around five times as much as in 2014.
Some 40 percent of the refugees are Syrians fleeing war, and Afghans are the second biggest group, according to the statistics, which were released Wednesday.
Because of bureaucratic delays German authorities registered just 470,000 of the refugees. Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière announced that the federal government will deploy 4,000 additional employees at the migration office to manage the influx.
“We will work in all policy areas towards sharply reducing the number of new asylum-seekers to Germany,” De Maizière said.
A monthly contribution of €670 per asylum-seeker will also be made to help state and local governments cope.
Roland Schäfer, the president of the organization that represents local authorities, said Tuesday that towns and municipalities are “unable to cope” with the migrant flow if the trend continues.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said earlier in 2015 that a total of 800,000 asylum-seekers were expected over the course of the year. This number was adjusted over the course of the year to over one million refugee arrivals by the end of 2015.
