Press release No. 387 of 2 November 2017
WIESBADEN – On 31 December 2016, 1.6 million people seeking protection were registered in Germany. They accounted for 16% of the country's foreign population. Based on the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR), the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the number of people seeking protection increased by 851,000 (+113%) since the end of 2014. People seeking protection are foreigners who, referring to humanitarian reasons, are staying in Germany. They include, for instance, people still going through the asylum process, people granted refugee status in accordance with the Geneva Convention, people granted subsidiary protection status and failed asylum seekers who continue to stay in Germany. 392,000 foreigners are not taken into account as the information currently available in the AZR does not allow their unambiguous identification as people seeking protection.