Germany Saw Number Of Asylum Seekers Down By 16% Year-on-Year In 2018 - Interior Minister

Germany has seen number of asylum applications down by 16 percent year-on-year in 2018, which is a third consecutive decrease, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Germany has seen number of asylum applications down by 16 percent year-on-year in 2018, which is a third consecutive decrease, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday.

"In 2018, 185,853 asylum applications were filed, 16 percent less than in 2017. Thus, after the peak of the refugee situation in autumn 2015, a continuous decline in asylum access to Germany can be observed," Seehofer said.

According to the ministry, 185,853 formal asylum applications were submitted last year, down from over 220,000 in 2017, 280,000 in 2016 and 890,000 in 2015.

Of all applications submitted last year, 161,931 were initial and 23,922 were the follow-up ones, it noted.

The declining number of asylum applications shows success of measures initiated by the ministry and continuous improvement of the work of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Seehofer said.

Germany has been one of the EU states which have accepted the largest number of people since Europe's migration crisis erupted in 2015. Berlin's open-door policy, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of people pouring into the country from the middle East and North Africa, has prompted criticism from those claiming that the security situation in the country has worsened due to the influx of migrants.