BERLIN, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 111,094 asylum applications were registered in Germany in 2019, decreasing by 14.3 percent compared to the previous year, the German Ministry of the Interior (BMI) announced on Wednesday.
"The number of asylum seekers in Germany has decreased for the third year in a row," said Horst Seehofer, German Minister of the Interior. "This shows that the numerous measures taken in recent years are effective against unregulated immigration."
With 26,453 registered applications, most asylum seekers had come from Syria, followed by Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.
According to Germany's Interior Ministry, the figures refer to first-time asylum applications that were preceded by an entry into Germany.
Among the asylum applications last year, children born in Germany under one year of age were 31,415, according to the BMI.
Despite the declining number of asylum seekers, Seehofer reminded that "migration pressure at the external borders and to Germany remains high."
