A report from the German Federal Employment Agency (BA) has shown that more than half of the recipients of the Hartz IV welfare income benefit come from migrant backgrounds, with Syrians the largest group in the country.

The report lists a 69 per cent increase in welfare recipients from non-German backgrounds since 2010 for a total of 2.1 million individuals, while the overall number of German Hartz IV recipients has fallen by 20 per cent over the same period, Die Welt reports.

Syrians represent the highest number of beneficiaries with 584,000 Syrian nationals living on benefits with Turks coming in second with 259,000 individuals living off the German taxpayer.

The figure does not include asylum seekers who have yet to receive a final decision on their asylum claim as they are given money under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. While most failed asylum seekers do not receive Hartz IV benefits, those who have failed the asylum process but are allowed to stay in Germany as “tolerated” persons do have access to the programme.

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