German Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced she will stand for a fourth term in next year's general election.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with members of her Christian Democrat party (CDU), Ms Merkel said: "I literally thought about this decision endlessly ... but I am ready to run for office again."

The 62-year-old has been the head of the German government since 2005. If her party win next year's federal election and she serves the entirety of her four-year term she will match her former mentor Helmut Kohl's post-war record of 16 years in office.

Ms Merkel had previously declined to say whether she was running again during a joint press conference with Barack Obama on his last international trip at president last week.

The politician has seen high popularity during her premiership, with many Germans affectionately referring to her as "Mutti" or mother, but she has struggled to fight the rising tide of anti-immigration feeling since she allowed over a million refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East to settle in the country.

Participation in far right demonstration in Germany from 2005 (Statista)

During regional elections in the northern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania in September, the CDU were pushed into an embarrassing third place when the AfD surged ahead of them.

The region is one of Germany's poorest and was once part of the former communist east which has struggled to keep economically with the more prosperous west.

The anti-immigration party, along with the far-right protest group Pegida, have put pressure on Ms Merkel to follow a tougher line on immigration and the acceptance of refugees.

The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Show all 11 1 /11 The iron Frau: Angela Merkel The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Comeback queen: Angela Merkel at the Bellevue Palace, Berlin in 2007 EPA / WOLFGANG KUMM The iron Frau: Angela Merkel At home in Germany, the press are comparing Merkel to Margaret Thatcher (pictured in 1981), for her tough-talking stance on the Greek debt crisis GETTY IMAGES / REUTERS The iron Frau: Angela Merkel What Cold War? With Vladimir Putin and George W Bush in 2007 at a G8 summit in Germany. She's known to be an entertaining mimic; was she doing her 'Gordon Brown' for them? AFP The iron Frau: Angela Merkel The famous clip that showed George W Bush squeezing her shoulder The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Whispering with Silvio Berlusconi REUTERS The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Make 'em laugh: with Nicolas Sarkozy AFP The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Crowd-pleaser: Merkel's supporters at a 2009 election rally AFP / GETTY IMAGES The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Immortalised in doll form The iron Frau: Angela Merkel With other world leaders at last year's G20 summit AP The iron Frau: Angela Merkel With her husband Joachim Sauer EPA The iron Frau: Angela Merkel Campaigning in 1990 REUTERS

This has lead to a rise in hate attacks against refugees and those who support them such as Joachim Kebschull, the mayor of Oersdorf, who was beaten on the way to a town hall meeting in September for calling on the town to welcome Syrians.