Germany reports drop in January asylum requests to 12,285

BERLIN – German authorities say 12,285 people applied for asylum in the country in January, a 15 per cent drop compared with the same month last year.

In January 2017, Germany recorded 14,476 new asylum requests. Some 13,082 people applied for asylum in December.

Interior Ministry figures published Tuesday show most new asylum-seekers last month originated from Syria, Iraq and Nigeria.

The number of new asylum requests in Germany has steadily declined since the dramatic influx of 2015 as European countries enforce stricter border controls and clamp down on people-smuggling across the Mediterranean.