WIESBADEN – 14.2 million people lived in Germany in 2021

WIESBADEN – 14.2 million people lived in Germany in 2021 who themselves had immigrated since 1950, according to microcensus results. Immigrants thus accounted for 17.3% of the population. This is reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) as it publishes results, for the first time, on the concept of immigrants (first generation) and their direct descendants (second generation). Another 4.7 million people (5.7%) were direct descendants of immigrants. These people were born in Germany but both their parents had immigrated to Germany since 1950. The concept of immigrants and their direct descendants was recommended by the Federal Government’s Expert Commission on the Framework Conditions for Integration in 2021. According to that definition, people who immigrated themselves or whose parents both immigrated to Germany (today`s territory) in the period from 1950 have a migration history. Just under 19.0 million people in Germany had an immigration history in 2021. They accounted for 23.0% of the population. Only one parent of another 3.7 million people (4.5%) born in Germany had immigrated to Germany since 1950. In line with the Expert Commission’s recommendation, these are not included in the population with a migration history. 59.7 million people (72.5%) neither had immigrated themselves nor had a parent immigrated to Germany since 1950. Population by immigration history, 2021 Pie chart with 4 slices. Percent, total: 82,3 Millions Source: microcensus 2021 (final results), population in households at their main place of residence View as data table, Population by immigration history, 2021 End of interactive chart. Number of immigrants in Germany exceeding EU average One of the benefits of the new concept is the international comparability of results for the group of immigrants. With immigrants accounting for 17.3% of the population in Germany, their percentage was higher than the average of all 27 Member States (10.6%), according to results of Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union. The proportion of immigrants was highest in Malta (22.3%), Cyprus (22.1%) and Sweden (21.9%). The countries with the lowest percentages were Bulgaria, Romania and Poland (less than 1% each). As the results refer to 2021, they do not yet reflect the consequences of the population development due to the Russian attack on Ukraine.