Statistic: Number of Germans with non-German heritage topping 16 million for first time
By APWednesday, July 14, 2010
More than 16 million Germans have immigrant roots
BERLIN — The number of Germans with immigrant roots has reached more than 16 million, or nearly 20 percent of the population, according to statistics released Wednesday.
The data from a micro-census showed nearly 20 percent of the nation’s roughly 82 million people claimed immigrant backgrounds in 2009. That is compared to 18.6 percent of the population in 2005.
Dealing with the increase in immigrants in the population has posed a challenge to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, as studies have shown that children with immigrant roots struggle more in school and are less likely to fully integrate or find jobs.
The average German with immigrant heritage is young, roughly 35, male and living in Berlin or the former West Germany, the Federal Statistics Office said. Fourteen percent of them do not have a high school diploma and 48 percent lack a professional qualification.
The numbers indicate the number of Germans with immigrant backgrounds will continue to grow — 715,000 were born between 2005 and 2009. The number of Germans not claiming any foreign heritage shrank by 1.3 million during the same time.
Germany invited millions of immigrants from Turkey, Yugoslavia and elsewhere into the country in the 1950s as part of a so-called “guest worker” program aimed at helping rebuild the nation. But instead of returning to their homes, many of them put down roots and started families.
About 10.6 million Germans now trace their heritage to this first group of postwar immigrants. Another 3.3 million people traced their roots to ethnic Germans who themselves had immigrated to parts of Eastern Europe and were granted citizenship after Germany’s 1990 reunification.
