Sweden intends to fly 80,000 immigrants out of the country on chartered jets after they arrived in the country last year but had their asylum applications rejected.

Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said the Swedish government had asked the police and authorities in charge of migrants to organise their removal.

The proposed measure was revealed as Europe struggles to deal with a crisis that has seen tens of thousands of migrants arrive on Greek beaches, mostly fleeing war in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Movement: A group of migrants getting off an incoming train are escorted by Swedish police officers as they gather on the platform at the Swedish end of the bridge between Sweden and Denmark in Malmo in November

Killing: Officials in Sweden on Tuesday called for greater security at overcrowded asylum centres a day after the fatal stabbing of an employee at a refugee centre for unaccompanied youths outside Gothenburg (above)

About 55 per cent of asylum seekers in Sweden are seeing their application approved, while 45 per cent are being rejected at the moment, according to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Industri.

The United Nations says more than 46,000 people have arrived in Greece so far this year, with more than 170 people killed making the dangerous crossing.

Mr Ygeman said the expulsions, normally carried out using commercial flights, would have to be done using specially chartered aircraft, given the large numbers, staggered over several years.

Sweden, which is home to 9.8million people, is one of the European Union countries that has taken in the largest number of refugees in relation to its population.

On a journey: More than 46,000 people have arrived in Greece so far this year, with these migrants pictured on the deserted Greek island of Pasas waiting for the coastguard to transport them to Oinousses island last week

Support: People hold a banner as they take part in a demonstration in solidarity with refugees in Stockholm

Sweden accepted more than 160,000 asylum seekers last year, but the number of migrant arrivals has dropped dramatically since it enacted systematic photo ID checks on travellers on January 4.

Announcement: Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said Sweden wants to kick out up to 80,000 migrants

Officials in the country on Tuesday called for greater security at overcrowded asylum centres a day after the fatal stabbing of an employee at a refugee centre for unaccompanied youths.

The alleged attacker was a young male residing at a centre for youngsters aged 14 to 17 in Molndal near Gothenburg on the west coast.

The employee was 22-year-old Alexandra Mezher, according to Swedish media reports, whose family was originally from Lebanon. A motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Her death has led to questions about overcrowded conditions inside some centres, with too few adults and employees to take care of children, many traumatised by war.

In neighbouring Denmark, meanwhile, the government this week approved legislation to seize the valuables of refugees in the hope of limiting the flow of migrants.

Measures include confiscating migrants' valuables in order to finance their upkeep while they seek asylum, and making it harder to bring family members to Denmark once they have a right to remain.