By Ayhan Simsek 

BERLIN

The share of immigrants and their descendants in Germany’s population has increased to 23.6 percent in 2017, according to figures released on Wednesday.

Some 19.3 million people out of 81.7 million people have at least one parent born without German citizenship, said Destatis, the federal statistical office.

In 2016, 22.5 percent of Germany’s population -- 18.6 million people -- were immigrants or their descendants. 

According to the statistical office’s “Microcensus 2017” report, Turks continue to be the largest immigrant group in Germany with an estimated population of 2.8 million; 2.1 million Poles and 1.4 million Russians were the two other major immigrant populations.

Among the 19.3 million people with an immigration background, around 9.8 million were German citizens, and nearly 9.5 million were foreign nationals.

The number of Syrians fleeing civil war and seeking shelter in Germany has also increased by almost 10 percent last year; the overall Syrian population has reached 700,000, according to Destatis. 

Among the 227,000 Iraqis living in Germany, 156,000 have applied for asylum. 

The number of Afghan asylum seekers were recorded at 190,000.