Germany took in 42,300 unaccompanied minor migrants in 2015

BERLIN – Germany's Federal Office for Statistics says some 42,300 unaccompanied minors entered the country from abroad last year.

The office said in a statement Tuesday that this was an increase of 30,700, or 263 percent, compared with the previous year.

About 91 percent, or some 38,700, of these children and teenagers were male, while only about 3,600 girls entered Germany without their parents.

Germany saw an unprecedented influx of migrants in 2015. More than 1 million people registered for asylum, the majority of them from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Unaccompanied refugee children are normally taken into care by the country's youth welfare offices.