European Interest

German population with immigrant background reaches new peak in 2017

Flickr/Rolf Dietrich Brecher/CC BY-SA 2.0
People during a hot day of August, Preußenpark, Berlin, Germany.

The number of people in Germany with immigrant roots rose to 19.3 million last year, according to the findings of the latest “micro-census” published on August 1.

According to Destatis, Germany’s Federal Office for Statistics, the figure increased 4.4% compared to the figures from the 2016 “micro-census.”

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, Destatis defines someone with a “migrant background” as a person who was not born in Germany or who has at least one parent who is not a German citizen.

The data also found among those with immigrant backgrounds, 51% were German citizens and 49% were foreigners.

The annual “micro-census” derives its data from a 1% sample of the German population and focuses on people living in private households. Destatis has said that the data on those living in shared accommodation such as asylum-seeker homes and migrant reception centres is likely underrepresented in the study.

According to the data, out of the estimated 19.3 million people with immigrant backgrounds, 14% of them had Turkish roots, followed by 11% with Polish roots, 7% with Russian roots, 6% with Kazakh roots and 4% with Romanian roots.

As for the language that they speak at home, they found that out of the 24 million households with more than one person, foreign languages are primarily spoken in 2.5 million of them.

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