Nuremberg, 9 January 2024 (dpa/MIA) - More people applied for asylum in Germany last year than at any time since 2016, according to the annual statistics published by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) on Monday.

Some 329,000 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time between the beginning of January and the end of December, which was about 50% more than in the previous year.

Almost 23,000 of these first-time applications were for children under the age of 1 born in Germany.

Most of the people seeking asylum last year came from Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan.

The approximately 1 million war refugees from Ukraine who found refuge in Germany since February 2022 did not have to apply for asylum, but received immediate temporary protection on the basis of an EU directive.

In 2016, the number of requests for asylum had reached a peak with 722,370 initial applications.

In 2022, a total of 217,774 people applied for asylum in Germany for the first time, which was almost 47% more than in the previous year.

MIA file photo