Germany and the migration: Who comes and who goes?

Net immigration to Germany has declined increasingly more strongly in recent years. In 2001, 273,000 persons migrated to Germany but in 2007 only 44,000. In 2008, for the first time since 1984, there was a net emigration, and also in 2009 more people left Germany than immigrated to it. Hidden behind these numbers is a far more complex migration scenario. In 2009 a total of 721,000 persons immigrated and 734,000 emigrated. This article examines which groups of people left and entered Germany in recent years. Using the migration data it is shown, first of all, that mainly young people between 18 and 25 years of age immigrated whereas an increasingly stronger emigration occurred for those over 25. Furthermore, a calculation showed that relative to the German population particularly many people aged between 18 and 25 without school leaving certificates but also those with university diplomas immigrated whereas an especially large number of those over 50 without school leaving certificates emigrated.