Immigration into Germany last year hit its highest level for 20 years, with nearly 1.5 million people entering the country, and nearly one million people leaving. The number of people claiming asylum seeker benefits jumped by a staggering 61 per cent, the German Statistics Office (GSO) said on Thursday. The news comes as a poll published Wednesday showed support for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her party slipping for the second week in a row on the back of the ongoing European migrant crisis. According to the GSO figures, net migration stood at 550,000, meaning that many more people moved to Germany in 2014 than left. The majority were from Europe, mostly from Poland. Liberal asylum laws and generous benefits make Germany the EU’s biggest recipient of people seeking asylum. Overall a total of 1,465,000 people immigrated to Germany in 2014. This was an increase of 238,000, or 19 per cent, from 2013. Based on provisional