More than two million people migrated to Germany in 2015, according to government statistics agency Destatis.
The number is the highest on record in German history. It represents an increase of 46% over 2014.
Newcomers of foreign origin accounted for 94% of the intake, with the remainder being Germans returning to their country.
At the same time, nearly one million people left Germany during the year, of whom about 86% were foreign passport holders.
Taking account of all those arriving as well as those departing, Germany’s net migration for the year was around 1.1 million people.
Contrary to popular belief, a full 45% of new arrivals in Germany were people from EU countries, most notably from Romania (92,000), Croatia (40,000) and Bulgaria (40,000).
Europeans from nations outside the EU accounted for approximately 13%.
The agency said that some 30% of the total came largely from Syria (298,000), Afghanistan (80,000), Iraq (60,000) and Pakistan (20,000).
