Members of a refugee family from Syria | Julian Stratenschu/AFP via Getty Images Half of rejected asylum-seekers stay in Germany The German government says ‘well known’ deportation hurdles are to blame for low deportation rate.

Just under half of all migrants in Germany who had their asylum applications rejected over the past two years have not left the country, according to local media.

After an inquiry by the far-left Die Linke party, the German government told lawmakers that 49 percent of those who made an unsuccessful attempt for asylum in 2014 and 2015 did not leave the country as they were supposed to do, Die Welt reported Wednesday.

The government conceded that it should "promote and develop voluntary departure and make better ... use of the possibilities for deportation."

Germany's asylum rejection rate is much lower than it used to be: almost all Syrian, Eritrean and stateless asylum-seekers are accepted.

Migrants from the Western Balkans — almost all of whom have their asylum applications rejected — make up a large number of the rejected applicants, the paper reported.

But while many unsuccessful Western Balkan asylum-seekers leave voluntarily, securing the departure of others is more difficult. The government attributed the low number to "well known" deportation hurdles. Germany recently denounced the unwillingness and lack of cooperation of 17 countries to take back their citizens, especially Pakistan and North African states.

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