REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, STOCKHOLM -- Sweden intends to expel up to 80,000 failed asylum seekers, the interior minister said Wednesday, the latest move by EU states to tighten their borders in the face of the migrant crisis.

Interior Minister Anders Ygeman said the mass expulsions of people who arrived last year as part of a record influx of migrants would use specially chartered aircraft and be staggered over several years.

"We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000," he was quoted saying by Swedish media, adding that police and migrant authorities have been tasked with organising the scheme.

Sweden, a country of 9.8 million, took in more than 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, putting it among the European Union states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita.

More than one million people travelled to Europe last year -- the majority of them refugees fleeing conflict in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- in the continent's worst migration crisis since World War II.

Most cross by boat from Turkey to Greece and the UN says more than 46,000 people have washed up on the EU member's beaches so far this year, while 170 people died making the dangerous journey.

But, with the influx showing little sign of abating despite wintry conditions, many countries -- including Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, France -- have tightened their asylum rules in a bid to discourage new arrivals.

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