Germany sees 213,000 new asylum-seekers so far this year

Germany’s interior minister says some 213,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in the country this year, keeping it on course for a far lower total in 2016 than last year’s 890,000.

Minister Thomas de Maiziere said today the number of newcomers “is still declining but remains significant.” 

He said the figure he gave for the year’s first nine months reflects the number who “actually registered and entered.” 

De Maiziere’s ministry said 272,185 people were registered in a computer system between January and September as incoming asylum-seekers 15,618 in September, in line with the previous five months’ figures.

However, that system doesn’t register people by name and the figures have been inflated in the past by people registering multiple times. 

The number registered last year was initially given as nearly 1.1 million.