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The number of refugees living in Germany increased for nine years, but this summer the trend was reversed. As of mid-2020, 1.77 million refugees with different states of residence were living in Germany, as reported by the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. The data comes from the response of the Federal Ministry of the Interior to a request from the left-wing parliamentary group. At the end of 2019 there were 62,000 more people.
Around 1.31 million refugees are currently living safely in Germany, around 50,000 fewer than in the previous six months. According to the report, more than 450,000 people have the status of asylum seekers or tolerated persons. Here too there was a decrease of 15,000 people compared to the previous year.
Protection status revoked or withdrawn
According to statistics, it is the first time since the end of 2011 that the number of refugees living in Germany has decreased again. This is mainly explained by the fact that people’s protection status has been revoked or withdrawn or has expired, the Interior Ministry told the newspaper. A “significant proportion” of those affected are no longer in Germany and have therefore left, a spokeswoman said. In 2011 there were almost 400,000 refugees in Germany. Between 2018 and 2019, the number increased by 70,000 to 1.83 million.
Left-wing politician Ulla Jelpke harshly criticized the federal government’s refugee policy. “We have space, the numbers show it. At the same time, tens of thousands of people seeking protection are trapped in unworthy conditions in the European countries of initial reception,” he told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. Germany “as a rich country in the center of Europe” must not shirk its responsibility for refugee protection by entrenching itself “behind European barbed wire, hotspot camps and rejection practices by member states with EU external borders.”
