German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks with participants of the foundation for refugees "Wir Zusammen" (We Together) in cooperation with the German First division Bundesliga football club in Cologne, Germany | Federico Gambarini/AFP via Getty Images Migrants (still) welcome in Germany: survey But most Germans believe other EU countries should take more refugees.

A majority of Germans believe immigrants and refugees are "very" or "rather" welcome in their country, according to a Bertelsmann Foundation study released Friday.

Immigrants were more welcome than asylum seekers: 59 percent of Germans said they welcomed refugees, while 70 percent felt the same way about immigrants.

A larger proportion of survey respondents — 54 percent — believed Germany had reached its limit in its refugee intake, up from 40 percent in 2015.

Some 81 percent of those polled said other European countries should take more refugees to ensure "a fair distribution" across the EU.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door refugee policy in 2015 led to an influx of asylum seekers entering the country, but numbers have declined since the closure of borders along the Balkan route and as a result of the Turkey-EU migrant deal.