Germany expects 230,000 asylum seekers in 2015, which would mean another jump in new arrivals for a country already struggling to handle its load of refugees, a top official said Saturday. "According to current estimates, a total of 230,000 asylum requests is within the realm of possibility," Manfred Schmidt, head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, said in an interview with German regional newspaper Rheinische Post.
The 2015 estimate is based both on the amount of persecution occurring worldwide as well as how attractive applicants find Germany, which is the top destination in Europe for asylum seekers. For 2014 German authorities have predicted 200,000 asylum requests, a 60 percent increase over 2013.