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Number of new asylum seekers in Germany decline in first half of 2016

Xinhua, July 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

The number of new asylum seekers in Germany has declined significantly in the first half of 2016, German Federal Ministry of the Interior announced on Friday.

According to the ministry, while there were nearly 92,000 asylum seekers registered in January, the number fell to approximately 16,000 in June.

In the first half of 2016, a total of 222,264 new arrivals were registered. Among the newly arrived, about 75,000 came from Syria, 39,000 from Afghanistan and 38,000 from Iraq.

A total of 1.1 million people were registered as asylum seekers in Germany in 2015.

The closure of the so-called Balkan route as well as an agreement reached between the European Union and Turkey on settling the refugee crisis are reasons for the decline, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said here on Friday.

"This shows that the measures are working at German and European level," he said, adding that the refugee crisis is not solved, but "its solution is making good progress in Europe and in Germany".

However the minister did not forecast the number of asylum seekers expected to arrive in Germany for the whole year, as he believed the situation was still unstable. Enditem