The German state now estimates it will take in 800,000 refugees this year, a whopping increase from its original January forecast of 300,000.
If that many people are accepted, it will be four times the number which was given protection last year in Germany.
So far this year 218,221 applications for asylum have been filed.
“We’ve got to reckon there will be 800,000 people coming to Germany as refugees or seeking asylum,” said the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière. “It will be the largest influx in the country’s post-war history.”
He recognised the challenge the country faces as a result. “We can master this challenge. I don’t think this will overwhelm Germany. We can handle this,” he told a news conference.
Germany has been critical of other EU states for not helping more people who are escaping from war, violence and poverty.
The country may have the last laugh in years to come. It has the lowest birth rate of any European country and in future will need people to power its economy.
Its attitude is fostered also by its history. Some half million people fled the country to get away from the Third Reich. Then after the war 13 million displaced persons and refugees settled in the former West Germany after fleeing from Soviet control of eastern Europe.
Previously the largest number of refugees asking Germany for help was in 1992 when 438,200 people, mostly from war atrocities in former Yugoslavia, were settled.
Today a number of people from Albania and Serbia have been aiming to reach Germany, but nearly half of those who arrived this year will be sent back as economic migrants do not have as strong a claim as refugees.
Like every other country, Germany is struggling with housing shortages in its major cities.
Not every citizen has welcomed the new comers. There have been some arson attacks on refugee shelters and demonstrations protesting the rising numbers of migrants.
Comments
despite the fact that the population is shrinking and so much land and homes are left and abandoned