Germany remains the main destination for immigrants

BERLIN. Germany remained the main destination for migrants last year. Around 1.6 million people immigrated in 2019, the majority of whom were men. More than a third of the foreigners were 25 years of age or younger, according to the migration report published by the federal government on Wednesday.

Accordingly, the most common countries of origin are Romania, Poland and Bulgaria. Asylum seekers mostly came from Syria, Iraq and Iran. However, immigration figures are falling for all countries. Last year, the influx of Syrian refugees decreased by 17.1 percent compared to 2018. Immigration of asylum seekers from Iraq and Iran fell by 26.4 and 18.2 percent, respectively.

Accordingly, fewer first-time asylum applications were made. Last year there were 142,509. At 27.6 percent, most of the requests came from Syrians. Iraqis followed in second place with 9.6 percent. The third largest group was made up of Turkish nationals with 7.6 percent. A total of 161,931 initial applications were submitted in 2018. In 2016, around 722,370 people sought asylum due to the refugee crisis.

Every fourth person in Germany has a migration background
The number of foreigners who come to Germany to study has increased significantly. From the 2010/2011 winter semester to the 2019/2020 winter semester, it rose by 73 percent from 184,960 to 319,902 people. Most often they came from China, India and Italy.

Last year, at 26 percent, more than one in four in Germany had a migration background. That is around 400,000 more than in 2018. The most strongly represented group here were Turks.

Source: Junge Freiheit