Germany has received more asylum applications in 2021, according to stats.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) reported that it had received 100,278 initial applications by the end of September. This is 35.2% more than in the same period of the previous year.

Last year's arrival figures were however strongly dampened by the coronavirus pandemic, which brought closed borders and the extensive suspension of air traffic.

From 2016 to 2020, the numbers had been steadily declining.

Of the first-time applicants, about 19.5% were children under the age of one born in Germany.

Most of the asylum-seekers who applied for protection for the first time came from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. Some 40,472 initial applications came from people from Syria (up 57.1%), and 8,531 from people seeking protection from Iraq (up 22.2%).

The number of applicants from Afghanistan rose particularly sharply, with BAMF registering a total of 15,045 initial applications (up 138%) by the end of September.

The number of asylum applications to the European Union also more than doubled between April and June compared to the same period in 2020, according to Eurostat.

Of all the EU countries, most people applied for asylum in Germany, with 29,545 applications in the second quarter. This was followed by 22,015 people who applied for asylum in France and 12,335 in Spain.

Those three countries registered 61% of all initial applications in the EU between April and June.

Germany and France are the two most populous countries in the EU, while Spain ranks fourth.