Record number of refugees opts to leave in 2016

A record 55,000 migrants left Germany voluntarily this year – more than twice the number deported. Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) daily got the January-November data from the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Most of the migrants went back to the Western Balkans. Albanians formed the largest group – 15,000. The numbers from Serbia, Iraq […]

A record 55,000 migrants left Germany voluntarily this year – more than twice the number deported.

Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) daily got the January-November data from the Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). Most of the migrants went back to the Western Balkans.

Albanians formed the largest group – 15,000. The numbers from Serbia, Iraq and Kosovo totalled about 5,000 each.

Last year 890,000 asylum seekers reached Germany – a record influx.

In 2016, Germany deported 25,000 migrants. Those arriving from the Western Balkans generally have no right to stay in Germany.

The BAMF says increasing numbers of asylum seekers are also returning voluntarily to Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.