Press release No. 276 of 18 July 2019
WIESBADEN – Just under 1.8 million people seeking protection were registered in the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR) on 31 December 2018. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the number of people seeking protection who were registered in the AZR rose by 101,000 (+6%) on the previous year. This increase was roughly the same as in the previous year (+5%), and it appears to have stabilised at a lower level compared with the extraordinary high rates of growth between 2014 and 2016. People seeking protection are foreigners who, referring to humanitarian reasons, are staying in Germany, according to AZR information. The majority of all people seeking protection (71%) came to Germany for the first time in the last five years.
