Immigration to Germany decreased for the fifth year in a row in 2020.
In the course of the year around 220,000 more people immigrated to Germany than emigrated, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday in Wiesbaden.
Compared to the previous year, this was a significant decrease: in 2019, 327,000 more people immigrated to Germany than left Germany.
The statisticians attribute the sharp decline mainly to the corona pandemic and the restrictions on freedom of travel it caused.
There was also less migration within Germany in the 2020 corona year.
1.032 million removals across state borders were registered;
this was 66,000 or six percent less than in the previous year.
With a balance of plus 19,000 people, the federal state of Brandenburg benefited most from migrations within Germany, followed by Schleswig-Holstein (plus 11,000) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (plus 9,000).
Most of the inhabitants lost Berlin with 19,000 and Baden-Württemberg with 14,000 people.
Restricted travel options and economic reasons
The sharp decline in international migration movements in 2020 is also reflected in absolute figures: in 2020 there were around 1.187 million new arrivals and 966,000 departures across Germany's borders.
This means that around 24 percent fewer people arrived and 22 percent fewer people left in 2020 than in the previous year, 2019.
According to the Federal Office, this sharp decline in registered migrations across Germany's borders falls mainly in the period from March to December 2020, when restrictions existed worldwide due to the corona pandemic.
Restrictions on travel options and economic reasons that prevented or postponed planned immigration or emigration could have had an effect on the total number of registered arrivals and departures, explained the statisticians.
Most immigrants also came from another European country in 2020. A total of 173,000 people immigrated from non-European countries in 2020 - after 214,000 in the previous year. There were fewer immigrants among EU citizens than in the previous year, especially among people with Romanian and Polish citizenship (minus 47,000 and minus 27,000 people compared to 2019).