More than a quarter of people in Germany have an immigration background

Immigration is never far from the top of the agenda in Germany, with a steady stream of calls from some politicians to tighten migration rules – and even rollback citizenship laws.

But new figures show just how diverse Germany is: More than a quarter of the population – around 21.8 million people – had an 'immigrant background' in 2025, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

Their share of the total population (around 83.5 million people) rose by 0.5 percentage points compared to 2024, to 26.3 percent.

Destatis added, however, that the proportion of people with an immigration history in the population is growing more slowly than previous years. 

People are considered to have an immigrant background if they, or both of their parents, have immigrated to Germany since 1950.

READ ALSO: 'The community is growing' - an immigrant's guide to starting a new life in Germany 

What else do we know about Germany's immigrant population?

The figures show that around one in five people living in Germany is an immigrant. In absolute terms, 16.4 million first-generation immigrants were living in Germany last year – 1.7 percent more than in 2024.

By comparison, between 2021 and 2024, the number of immigrants rose by an average of 6.2 percent or about 888,000 people per year.

"The increase in the number of immigrants was therefore significantly smaller than in previous years," the Destatis reported. 

According to the figures, most first-generation immigrants came from Poland and Türkiye, with 1.5 million people from each country, followed by Ukraine with 1.3 million, and Russia and Syria with one million each. In total, 39 percent of all immigrants come from these five countries. 

A total of 5.4 million people were direct descendants of immigrants – that is, children born in Germany to two parents who had immigrated in the period after 1950. This second generation grew by three percent compared with 2024.

Experts highlighted how much Germany's diversity had grown over the years. 

"Since 2005, the number of people with a history of immigration has risen from 13.0 million to 21.8 million in 2025," Destatis said. This represents an increase of 67 percent.

READ ALSO: 'Germany's mixed messages on migration are driving skilled workers away'

Immigrants tend to be younger

Researchers found that people with a immigrant background tend to be younger compared to the general population.

In 2025, more than one in three people aged 25 to 34 had an immigration background. Among those aged over 65, the figure was just one in seven.

Among young adults aged 25 to 34 who had immigrated themselves, a third held an academic qualification such as a university degree. Roughly the same number had no vocational qualification and were neither in education or training.

The data is based on the Microcensus, a sample survey in which around one percent of the population in Germany is interviewed annually.

People with only one immigrant parent are not included in the population with an immigration history. This applied to 4.2 million people born in Germany in 2025, or five percent of the population (up 0.2 percent compared to the previous year).

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