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Sweden's refugee arrival forecast slashed

Xinhua, July 26, 2016 Adjust font size:

Between 30,000 and 50,000 people could seek asylum in Sweden in 2016, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.

Sweden has experienced a slowdown in the number of refugees seeking asylum in the country since it introduced systematic identity controls on train, bus, and ferry passengers entering via Denmark and Germany in January.

"The international refugee crisis continues, even if it is making a smaller impact here in Sweden as fewer people will reach our borders," the Swedish Migration Agency's director general Anders Danielsson said in a press statement on Monday. The agency lowered its forecast for the number of refugees expected to seek asylum in the country in 2016.

According to the new projection, between 30,000 and 50,000 people will seek asylum in Sweden in 2016. Next year, between 35,700 and 77,000 asylum seekers are expected.

In April, the migration agency predicted that between 40,000 and 100,000 people would seek asylum in Sweden this year.

The agency also said it was preparing for 3,000 unaccompanied minors to arrive in 2016 and for 4,500 to arrive in 2017. In April, the forecast was 7,000 this year and 7,000 next year.

"The biggest impact of the reduced number of asylum seekers will be noticed in the second half of the prognosis period," the migration agency stated.

The agency's director general Anders Danielsson said: "We are noticing that the migration agency's need for housing has changed and we have therefore already chosen to terminate some of the tendering processes that had been initiated. We have also paused the development of module housing in municipalities."

Stricter controls have been introduced both at the European Union (EU) level and by several EU member states. That, in combination with Sweden's own tougher measures, means fewer migrants are entering the Scandinavian nation. Endit