The German government expects 500,000 refugees to come to the country this year, German newspaper Rheinische Post cited sources from the Federal Labor Office as saying.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told Frank-Juergen Weise, head of both the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and the Federal Labor Office, to prepare for an influx of that size this year, the newspaper said in an advance copy of a report due to be published on Tuesday, Feb 16, according to Reuters.

Last year some 1.1 million migrants arrived in Germany.