the previous high of more than 70,000 reached in June".

The German government had earlier forecast that 450,000 asylum seekers could arrive in 2015, but is now set to increase that to 650,000 or higher.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said more countries in Europe should share the burden.

"It is unsustainable in the long run that only two EU countries, Germany and Sweden, take in the majority of refugees," he told German daily Die Welt

Hungary's southern border marks the edge of the EU's Schengen zone of passport-free travel and is thus a target for migrants seeking to enter the EU.

Helping the refugees - by Jenny Hill, BBC Berlin correspondent

image copyright AFP

Squatting on a kerb, Barakat smiles as a volunteer hands his young son and daughter some second-hand clothes.

Thein eastern Germany against the housing of asylum seekers

The numbers are far higher than the record 438,000 asylum applications in 1992 during the Bosnian crisis.

German towns have been housing refugees in tent cities and converted gyms, but as tensions increase, there has been a rise in attacks on asylum seekers.

In the east, thousands of people have marched in towns and cities in protest at asylum seekers being housed in their areas and against what they call the "Islamisation of the West".

Last month, EU member states agreed to take in 32,000 asylum seekers arriving in Italy and Greece over the next two years - fewer than the 40,000 target.