BERLIN – Europe’s economic giant Germany is amongst one of the top destinations for those seeking immigration as statistics from 2022 confirm that a staggering number of people moved to the country in search of better oppurtunities.
According to figures published by the Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, around 20.2 million people in Germany in 2022 either moved to the country themselves or were born to two people who moved there. Out of these, 15.3 million or 18.4% of the population moved to Germany from abroad themselves at some point in their own lifetimes.
The 2022 stats show 6.3% rise as compared to the previous year. The last decade seems to be promising for immigrants as just over 6 million people had migrated to Germany between 2013 and 2022. This is a significant contribution to a country having total population of 83.2 million.
When we sift through data regarding immigration, it is confirmed that mostly the younger lot preferred to relocate to the country. Those who had moved to Germany in the last ten years had an average age of 29.9 versus 47.0 of native citizens.
The reasons for immigration in order are asylum, work oppurtunities, joining families, and academic opportunities. Interestingly, the country that appreciates gender parity also saw immigrants in almost equal numbers from men and women. Among the 15.3 million in Germany who had migrated in the last decade, 47% were women and 53% were men.
As far as the countries of origin are concerned, war-torn Syria comes on top (16%), followed by Romania (7%) and Poland (6%), and Ukraine at 5%.
While countries across the world are increasingly tightening laws regarding immigration, Germany is a different story altogether. The country is revamping its immigration laws to make them conducive to foreigners. A recently released reform plan aims to welcome extra 60,000 people from outside EU each year.
Germany, one of the most successful economies of Europe is facing labour shortage and the number of job vacancies in 2022 was at a record high of close to 2 million.
