The number of immigrants living in Germany has risen to record highs, new data reveals.
New figures released by Germany’s Federal Statistics Office, Destatis, yesterday show that as of the end of last year there were 10.9 million immigrants living in the country. This was 390,000 more than the previous year’s total and over 1 million more than in 2011!
In recent years, Germany has attempted a more immigrant friendly nation, having been warned by an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report that it would face economy damaging skills shortages unless it could attract more skilled workers from abroad.
In a report last month, The International Monetary Fund stated that “the [German] population is aging fast despite record immigration, which will increasingly harm growth prospects after 2020.”
Since 2011, approximately 620,000 people have flocked to Germany from other parts of the European Union. The number of Spanish and Greek immigrants living in Germany in 2014 was up by 41.8 per cent and 17.4 per cent respectively, from 2011.
Finding employment is the biggest motivation for people to enter Germany, the report found.
About 16.4 million people living in Germany, or 20.3 per cent of the population, had migrant backgrounds in 2014.