Immigration to Germany, both in the country's modern borders and the many political entities that preceded it, has occurred throughout the country's history. Today, Germany is one of the most popular destinations for immigrants in the world, with well over 1 million people moving there each year since 2013.[1] As of 2019, around 13.7 million people living in Germany, or about 17% of the population, are first-generation immigrants.[2]
Immigration to Germany, 1990–2020
Even before Germany's formal founding in 1871, its predecessor states, such as the Holy Roman Empire and the German Confederation, were destinations for immigrants. Early examples include Protestants seeking religious freedom and refugees from the partitions of Poland. Jewish immigration, mostly from Eastern Europe, was also significant. In the 20th century, rising antisemitism and xenophobia resulted in the mass emigration of German Jews and culminated in the Holocaust, in which almost all remaining German Jews and many other religious or ethnic groups, such as German Roma, were systematically murdered. In the decades since, Germany has experienced renewed immigration, particularly from Eastern and Southern Europe, Turkey and the Middle East.[3] Since 1990, Germany has consistently ranked as one of the five most popular destination countries for immigrants in the world.[4] According to the federal statistics office in 2016, over one in five Germans has at least partial roots outside of the country.[5]
In modern Germany, immigration has generally risen and fallen with the country's economy.[6] The economic boom of the 2010s, coupled with the elimination of working visa requirements for many EU citizens, brought a sustained inflow from elsewhere in Europe.[7] Separate from economic trends, the country has also seen several distinct major waves of immigration. These include the forced resettlement of ethnic Germans from eastern Europe after World War II, the guest worker programme of the 1950s–1970s, and ethnic Germans from former Communist states claiming their right of return after the breakup of the Soviet Union.[8] Germany also accepted significant numbers of refugees from the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s and the Syrian civil war in the 2010s.
Motivated in part by low birth rates and labour shortages, German government policy towards immigration has generally been relatively liberal since the 1950s,[9] although conservative politicians resisted the normalization of Germany as a country of immigrants and citizenship laws accordingly remained relatively restrictive until the mid-2000s. A major reform of immigration law in 2005 saw the state commit, for the first time, resources to the integration of newcomers and significantly liberalised the labour market for skilled professionals while restricting it for unskilled labourers.[10] Smaller immigration reforms in 2009, 2012 and 2020 contributed to the broad trend of liberalisation,[10] although there continue to be calls for a more comprehensive reform, especially to simplify the accreditation of foreign qualifications and make it easier for companies to employ non-EU citizens.[11]
^"International Migration Database". stats.oecd.org. OECD. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
^Bildung, Bundeszentrale für politische. "Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund I | bpb". bpb.de (in German). Archived from the original on 19 May 2019. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
^Migrations in the German lands, 1500-2000. Jason Philip Coy, Jared Poley, Alexander Schunka (1st ed.). New York. 2016. ISBN 978-1-78533-144-2. OCLC 934603332. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
^"Germany Top Migration Land After U.S. in New OECD Ranking". Migration Policy Institute. 2019. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
^"Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund um 8,5 % gestiegen". Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
^"Right and wrong ways to spread languages around the globe". The Economist. 31 March 2018. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^"Fünf Jahre Arbeitnehmerfreizügigkeit in Deutschland | bpb". bpb.de (in German). Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^Jones, P.N.; Wild, M.T. (February 1992). "Western Germany's 'third wave' of migrants: the arrival of the Aussiedler". Geoforum. 23 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1016/0016-7185(92)90032-Y. PMID 12285947. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
^"Germany Population 2018", World Population Review, archived from the original on 30 August 2023, retrieved 15 July 2018
^ abOltmer, Vera Hanewinkel, Jochen (20 September 2017). "Grundzüge der deutschen (Arbeits-)Migrationspolitik - Migrationsprofil Deutschland". bpb.de (in German). Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Schildbach, Linda (21 August 2021). "Breite Kritik am Fachkräfte-Einwanderungsgesetz | MDR.DE". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (in German). Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
and 29 Related for: Immigration to Germany information
ImmigrationtoGermany, both in the country's modern borders and the many political entities that preceded it, has occurred throughout the country's history...
attempted to control immigrationto West Germany. During the 1950s and 1960s, a group known as Gastarbeiter participated in an organised immigration programme...
Germanimmigration may refer to: ImmigrationtoGermany Expulsion of Germans after World War II Emigration from Germany (disambiguation) German American...
thousands of Germans from Europe to what was then the German Coast, Orleans Territory in present-day Louisiana between 1718 and 1750. Immigrationto the U.S...
Indians in Germany includes Indian expatriates residing in Germany, as well as German citizens of Indian origin or descent. In 2009, the German government...
came toGermany fled from Serbian aggression. In Berlin, about 23,000 Albanians lived in 1999. In 2015, there was another wave of Albanian immigration when...
populist political party in Germany. AfD is Eurosceptic, and opposes immigrationtoGermany. Described as a party of the far-right, the AfD is commonly positioned...
Opposition toimmigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political ideology that seeks to restrict the incoming of people from one area to another...
triggered mass immigrationto the West, with Germany being the top destination, mostly for economic and ethnic reasons. Russians (German Russians) are...
year the German population would have decreased without immigration. However, due toimmigration the population has actually increased during the last half-century...
played for Germany national football team and who were born outside the current borders of Germany. This list includes former West Germany national football...
Embassy of Mexico in Berlin, Germany. Consulate in Frankfurt, Hasse. German Mexicans Germany–Mexico relations ImmigrationtoGermany "Mexicanos residentes en...
deportation law to take effect Monday". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 10 June 2024. "Basic Plan for Immigration Control (5th Edition)" (PDF). Immigration Bureau of...
BBC, 3 March 2016 http://www.immigration-residency.eu statistics Archived 2014-08-16 at the Wayback Machine Immigrationto France 2013 "La localisation...
to settle in, to find work or to study. The "surge" of immigration during the first decade of the 21st century, especially the German one, is a result...
immigration from across the world, with Asia being the largest source of immigrants in the 21st century. In 2019–20, immigrationto Australia came to...
power in Germany, illegal immigrationto Mandatory Palestine commenced. The illegal immigration was known as Aliyah Bet ("secondary immigration"), or Ha'apalah...
Immigration law includes the national statutes, regulations, and legal precedents governing immigration into and deportation from a country. Strictly...
restricted immigration from Asia, and quota laws enacted in the 1920s curtailed Southern and Eastern European immigration. The civil rights movement led to the...
captain. In the late 19th century, immigration from China and Japan was restricted. In the 1920s, restrictive immigration quotas were imposed but political...
emigration ending after World War I to a nation of net immigration from World War II onward. In 2013, immigration reached its highest level since records...
percent). According to Reuters, Oslo is the "fastest growing city in Europe because of increased immigration". In recent years, immigration has accounted for...
destination country do not fall under the definition of immigration or migration; seasonal labour immigration is sometimes included, however. As for economic...
in Germany. Germany–United States relations Emigration from the United States German American for Americans of German descent ImmigrationtoGermany "BiB...
domestic immigration law and policy went through significant changes, most notably with the Immigration Act, 1976, and the current Immigration and Refugee...
from Turkey arrived after Germany and Turkey signed a treaty which allowed Turkish citizens (mostly men) toimmigratetoGermany as "Gastarbeiter" (guest...
north-western part of Lower Saxony. After the United States, Germany is the second-most popular immigration destination in the world. In 2015, following the 2015...
Global Information
