2,400 rejected asylum seekers deported in 2017

The police last year deported approximately 2,400 unsuccessful asylum applicants and referred hundreds of them to the voluntary return scheme.

The deportees were returned to approximately 100 different countries, said a recent police report.

Finland received a total of 5,081 asylum applications in 2017 and 5,651 in 2016.

A total of 1,963 or almost 40 per cent of the 5,081 asylum applications submitted in 2017 were reapplications.

The number of people residing in the country illegally does not appear to have increased so far, but the risk of an increase still exists.