In 2024, around 21.2 million people with an immigration history lived in Germany.

As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday based on initial results of the 2024 microcensus, this was four percent, or 873,000 people, more than in the previous year (2023: 20.4 million). The share of this group in the population rose by almost one percentage point to 25.6 percent (2023: 24.7 percent). This means that just over one in four people in Germany had an immigration history. People with an immigration history are individuals who either themselves (first generation) or both of whose parents (descendants, second generation) have immigrated to Germany since 1950.

With the first publication for 2024, the Federal Statistical Office is providing microcensus results retroactively from 2021, which were extrapolated using key population figures from the 2022 census. The number of immigrants rose by four percent, or 582,000, to almost 16.1 million in 2024 (2023: 15.5 million). Almost one in five people in Germany had thus immigrated themselves (19.4 percent of the population). Nearly 5.2 million people, or 6.3 percent of the population, were direct descendants of immigrants—that is, children born in Germany to two parents who immigrated since 1950. Their number increased by six percent, or 291,000, compared to the previous year. For another 4.1 million people born in Germany, or 5.0 percent of the population, only one of their two parents was an immigrant. They are therefore not considered part of the population with an immigration history. Compared to 2023, the number of these people increased by four percent, or 159,000. A further 57.4 million people (-1 percent, or -734,000, compared to 2023) had neither immigrated themselves nor had one of their parents immigrated since 1950. This represented more than two-thirds (69.3 percent) of the population. People with an immigration history are young compared to the general population: In the 20- to 39-year-old group, more than one in three people had an immigration history (34 percent) in 2024. In contrast, in the over-65 group, this figure was only one in seven people (14 percent). In 2024, the population with an immigration history was about nine years younger than the population without an immigration history (47.4 years), with an average age of 38.2 years. People with only one immigrant parent were particularly young, with an average age of 25.1 years. In 2024, Germany was home to almost 6.5 million people who had immigrated since 2015. Of these, a good 4.2 million immigrated between 2015 and 2021, primarily from Syria (716,000), Romania (300,000), and Poland (230,000). A further 2.2 million people immigrated between 2022 and 2024, primarily from Ukraine (843,000), Syria (124,000), and Turkey (112,000). According to respondents, the most important reasons for immigration since 2015 were flight, asylum, and international protection (31 percent), employment (23 percent), and family reunification (21 percent). Furthermore, eight percent of immigrants since 2015 stated that they came to Germany primarily to study or pursue further education. For men, the most common reasons for immigration were flight (32 percent) and employment (28 percent). Women cited flight (30 percent) and family reunification (26 percent) as their main reasons, alongside flight (30 percent). The 2022 census showed that as of May 15, 2022, there were 1.4 million fewer people, or 1.6 percent, living in Germany than according to the previous population update based on the 2011 census. In particular, the number of people with foreign citizenship is smaller according to the 2022 census compared to the previous update (-1.0 million, or -8.1 percent). The microcensus extrapolation based on the 2022 census has a corresponding impact on the results for the population with an immigration history. For example, the new extrapolation resulted in the number of people with an immigration history in 2022 being 908,000 (-4 percent) lower than the previous estimate. The impact is particularly pronounced among immigrants with a residence permit of less than ten years. In this population group, the difference amounts to 530,000 (-9 percent). When analyzed by country of birth of the immigrants or their immigrant parents, the number of people from Syria (-125,000 and -10 percent, respectively), Afghanistan (-40,000 and -9 percent, respectively), Ukraine (-54,000 and -9 percent, respectively), and Iraq (-31,000 and -8 percent, respectively) was significantly lower than the previous estimate. The reasons for the discrepancies between the results of the 2022 census and the previous population projection for the foreign population are likely the influence of refugee movements on the registration of foreign nationals for registration purposes. For example, individuals who were registered for registration purposes upon arrival in Germany may have already moved away without being registered, for example, to their countries of origin. This frequent failure of foreign residents to deregister upon returning to their countries of origin is a phenomenon already known from previous population surveys. Conversely, asylum seekers who were living in a municipality on the census reference date may not yet have been registered as residents for registration purposes and thus not recorded in the population projection, according to statisticians.