Finland may reject some 60 percent of refugees who sought asylum in the country in 2015, which would amount to almost 20,000 people, the permanent secretary of the Finnish Interior Ministry said Thursday, Sputnik reported.
"In Finland the number of negative decisions [on asylum cases] should be around 60 percent," Paivi Nerg told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper.
The country received 32,000 applications in 2015, Nerg said, and they should be processed by May. This would lead to almost 20,000 people being rejected.
According to official estimates, most asylum seekers in Finland are from Iraq.
In 2014, a total of 3,600 migrants arrived in Finland.
Europe has been beset by a refugee crisis, with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants fleeing their home countries in Middle East to escape violence and poverty.
Finland ranks third among EU countries most popular with asylum seekers, according to the country's Immigration Service.