BERLIN (Sputnik) – About 170,000 people seeking asylum arrived in Germany in the first three months of 2016, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Friday.
"In the first quarter of 2015, 500,000 people arrived in Germany and some 170,000 [arrived in] the first quarter of 2016. Therefore the number… decreased by 66 percent [on a quarter-on-quarter basis]," de Maiziere said at a briefing.
Germany has become a key destination for the migrants fleeing war and poverty since the start of 2015. The country’s interior ministry estimates that Germany received around 1.1 million registered migrants last year alone. At the same time, German media reported, citing interior ministry officials, about 500,000 undocumented migrants currently staying in the country.