Nearly 1 million refugees registered in Germany in 2015 — minister

Germany’s interior minister says that 965,000 people were registered as asylum-seekers in the country from January through the end of November, though he says the number of migrants arriving in the country has declined significantly over the past week or two.

The figure, given by Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere on Monday puts the total number of new arrivals this year above the total of 800,000 he forecast for 2015 in August. He said he won’t give a new full-year forecast.

The actual number of new arrivals through the end of November is below 965,000 because of people who registered more than once or continued to other countries, he says, but can’t say how much lower.

De Maiziere says refugees and other migrants have been arriving at a pace of 2,000 to 3,000 a day in recent days, down from the 8,000 to 10,000 who often arrived daily over recent months.

He says the cause isn’t entirely clear but pointed to bad weather in the Mediterranean that has deterred people from crossing from Turkey to Greece, and efforts by Turkey to stop people leaving by sea.

“This isn’t yet a turnaround, but it is a good development,” he says.

— AP