Berlin  - The number of people granted refugee status in Germany is falling just as the number of refugees living in the nation is increasing, figures released Tuesday showed.

While refugee numbers in the country rose by 3,000 to 65,500 last year, those given refugee status at the end of last year fell by 6,000 to 57,500 compared with 2007, the German Government said in answering a parliamentary question.

Of the numbers gaining refugee status, about 24,000 came from Turkey with another 8000 from Iran and 4000 from Afghanistan.

However, the majority of refugees living in Germany were from Iraq. They represented about 30,000 of the total. A further 10,000 refugees had a Turkish background and 5000 were from Iran. (dpa)