But the new numbers reflect that it now is increasingly a final destination for many refugees seeking safety and a new life.
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Border controls, the minister believes, will “bring order” to the national asylum system.
So far, more than 27,000 asylum-seekers have arrived in Finland this year, most coming across the northern border from Sweden.
Hungary was bitterly critical of Germany’s announcement that it planned to send more Syrian refugees back to the first European Union country they had entered, after reinstating the EU’s Dublin Regulation on asylum.
Sweden’s border controls will primarily extend to the bridge across the Oresund strait separating Sweden and Denmark and ferry ports in the region.
“Swedish immigration officials say the introduction of temporary border controls will help them register new arrivals and prevent people from staying in the country illegally”.
The government has also asked companies running ferries between Germany and Sweden to require passengers to show their identity papers, though the authorities have no way of forcing them to comply.
Speaking at a migration summit in Malta, Lofven said that his European Union partners understand Sweden’s decision, and that EU leaders need to revamp the rules for Europe’s passport-free area.
The developments coincide with the final day of a migration summit of European and African leaders. About 140,000 of the almost 800,000 migrants who have reached Europe by sea in 2015 came from Africa, according to figures from the worldwide Organization of Migration.
Following the border closure, Fredrik Bengtsson, a spokesman for the Swedish Migration Agency, said that now the authorities are struggling to deal with the influx.
Support parties the Conservatives and Liberal Alliance also expressed support for new Danish border controls, and the left-of-centre Social Democrats said they would support a government decision to do so, but Rasmussen said it would not be a wise move.
The communications director for the migration office, Mikael Hvinlund, stressed that border closure will offer asylum seekers better living conditions.
Austria has also said it will take border measures to help control the influx.
The ministry said Tuesday that since October 21 it’s been applying the existing regulations to all cases, to determine if they should be sent to European countries other than Greece, which is considered overburdened.
While Sweden moves ahead with its migration approach, Slovenia announced that a razor-wire fence is being erected along the border with Croatia to stem the flow of migrants.
Sweden is the fourth country to re-establish border controls since the start of the migrant crisis this summer.
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Interior Minister Sandor Pinter told the officers at a farewell ceremony on Monday that by defending the Slovenian border they were protecting Hungary and Europe, too.
