The Germans, a population of increasingly diverse origins
Germans at a bicycle demonstration in Berlin.
(illustration) AFP - ODD ANDERSEN
Text by: Nathalie Versieux
3 min
The German population is increasingly diverse.
According to official figures which have just been presented, one in four inhabitants in the country has a migratory past against 19% of the inhabitants in 2009.
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From our correspondent in Berlin
,
Germany and its
dynamic labor market are
attracting more and more foreigners, especially Europeans.
Today, 26% of residents are foreigners or have a parent with an immigrant background, up from 19% in 2009.
This growth is linked in particular to the arrival on the labor market of young Europeans and people fleeing war or conflict zones.
Germany had welcomed
a million refugees
from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan between the summer of 2015 and the spring of 2016. The movement has since dried up with the closure of the Balkan route, following agreements between Turkey and the European Union.
In recent years, many young Spaniards, Italians and Greeks have also arrived in the country's major cities attracted by full employment, especially in southern
Germany
.
Notable differences between regions
This growth is far from uniform across the country.
People with an immigrant background thus represent 36.5% of the population of Bremen, in northern Germany, number one in the ranking.
Followed by Hamburg with 34% of its inhabitants having a migratory past and Berlin with 33%.
In the former GDR, on the other hand, the number of people with an immigrant background is historically low.
In these regions where
the far-right AFD party is
mobilizing against migration, foreigners represent only 8% of the population in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt or Mecklenburg-Pomerania.
There is also a strong difference in the origins of the inhabitants.
Turks remain the first group with 13% of people with an immigrant background;
11% for Poles and 7% for Russians.
Only 5% of foreigners from Germany are Africans or have a parent from the continent.
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