Foreign-born population – 2024 | 19.1% of the population | Main countries of birth: |
16.2 million, 50% women | Evolution since 2014: +55% | Poland (10%), Türkiye (9%), Russia (7%) |
International Migration Outlook 2025
In 2024, Germany received 586 000 new immigrants on a long-term or permanent basis (including changes of status and free mobility), ‑12% compared to 2023. This figure comprises 47% immigrants benefitting from free mobility, 11% labour migrants, 18% family members (including accompanying family) and 24% humanitarian migrants. Around 59 000 permits were issued to tertiary-level international students and 11 300 to temporary and seasonal labour migrants (excluding intra-EU migration). In addition, 548 000 intra-EU postings were recorded in 2023, a 12% increase compared to 2022. These posted workers are generally on short-term contracts.
Ukraine, Romania and Syria were the top three nationalities of newcomers in 2023. Among the top 15 countries of origin, Türkiye registered the strongest increase (44 000) and Ukraine the largest decrease (‑789 000) in flows to Germany compared to the previous year.
In 2024, the number of first asylum applicants decreased by ‑30%, to reach around 230 000. The majority of applicants came from Syria (77 000), Afghanistan (34 000) and Türkiye (29 000). The largest increase since 2023 concerned nationals of Somalia (1 700) and the largest decrease nationals of Türkiye (‑32 000). Of the 250 000 decisions taken in 2024, 53% were positive.
Emigration of German citizens to OECD countries decreased by ‑3% in 2023, to 145 000. Approximately 18% of this group migrated to Switzerland, 14% to Austria and 13% to Poland.
Germany continued its efforts to address labour shortages in 2024 and early 2025. The Act on the Further Development of Skilled Immigration introduced more flexible rules for recruiting third-country nationals. Key changes entered into force in March and June 2024, including more flexible pathways to the recognition of professional qualification, new residence permits for experienced professionals, a one‑year Opportunity Card for job seekers, partly based on a points system, and a doubled annual quota for workers from the Western Balkans with special access to the German labour market. As for improving labour market access of humanitarian migrants, another law was introduced to – among other objectives – shorten the waiting period from nine to six months for individuals in reception centres (asylum seekers and people with “Duldung” – or tolerated – status) to be able to access the labour market.
Germany also expanded its bilateral migration partnerships to boost the migration of skilled workers and facilitate the repatriation of irregular migrants. In September 2024, an agreement with Kenya was signed and a similar agreement with Uzbekistan was concluded. In addition, agreements and partnerships already exist with Colombia, Georgia, India and Morocco. Further partnerships are under development.
Furthermore, naturalisation rules were overhauled through the Nationality Modernisation Act, which came into force in June 2024. It reduced the required years of residence for citizenship from eight to five, or three in cases of special integration achievements (according to the coalition agreement of the new government, the latter will soon be retracted). In turn, regulations concerning sufficiency of subsistence became stricter. The law also introduced unrestricted dual citizenship and granted birthright citizenship to children born in Germany if at least one parent had resided legally in the country for five years.
The Job-Turbo Action Plan for the labour market integration of refugees launched in October 2023 has created considerable momentum for the labour market integration of refugees. The plan aims at supporting refugees who have completed an integration course, in gaining work experience as quickly as possible with the help of the public employment service and in co‑operation with relevant stakeholders. Integration measures were also further developed. New types of vocational language courses for on-the‑job-learning and for the childcare sector were introduced while targeted initiatives to support women with migrant backgrounds, including a digital counselling pilot to provide information and advice on social media on labour market integration, continued in 2024.
At the same time, Germany adopted more restrictive measures on asylum and irregular migration. In September 2024, temporary border controls were reintroduced at Germany’s land borders, initially for six months. The government indicated that these would remain in place until EU Asylum reforms are finalised.
In the coalition agreement concluded in April 2025, the new federal government announced a two‑year suspension of family reunification rights for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection. It also decided to end voluntary admission programmes as far as possible. It announced expanding the list of safe countries and working on comprehensive regulations to increase the number of returns.
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