German Asylum Applications Drop to 320,000 in 2016

Asylum applications dropped in Germany in 2016 to around 320,000, a major decrease in comparison to the year before, while the number of people arrested for human trafficking in the country also decreased, local media reported Sunday. 
Around 321,000 people registered for asylum in Germany in 2016, the country's "Welt am Sonntag" newspaper said in a report Sunday, cited by the (dpa). 
According to the figures, gathered from registration databases from Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), the number of monthly asylum registrations went down throughout the year. 
In January, 91,671 people registered for asylum Germany-wide, but by December only 16,441 applied, the newspaper said, while adding that the system didn't register exact names and was therefore subject to some degree of error. 
In 2015, approximately 890,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany. 
The newspaper also reported that around 900 people were detained by authorities in Germany for human trafficking in 2016, a major reduction in comparison to the year before. 
Up until the end of November 2016, 906 people had been detained by Germany's Federal Police, compared to 3,370 traffickers for all of 2015, "Welt am Sonntag" said, citing figures from Germany's Interior Ministry. 
The reduction in arrests was due to countries closing off the migration route through the Balkans, one of the major ways refugees moved from Turkey to Western Europe, the paper said, as well as the European Union's 2016 refugee deal with Turkey.

Source: QNA