Sweden turns back on open-door policy, will expel 80,000 refugees

Sweden will expel up to 80,000 refugees who arrived in the country in 2015, but whose applications for asylum were rejected, according to interior minister Anders Ygeman.

"We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000," Ygeman told Swedish media on Wednesday, Daily Live News reported.

Due to the high number of refugees - most of whom fled to Europe from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - the expulsions are to be carried out using specially chartered aircrafts over several years, International Business Times reported.

Throughout January of this year alone, Greece has seen the arrival of over 46,000 asylum seekers, more than 170 of whom died making the dangerous journey from their home countries, says the United Nations, BBC News said.

In an attempt to stem the influx of similarly large numbers in Sweden, the country sharply reversed its previous open-doors policy and introduced stricter border controls and photo identification checks late last year.