March 28, 2006: Foreign Population In Germany Rises To 6.76 Million
Foreign population in Germany rises to 6.76m
28 March 2006
BERLIN – The number of registered foreigners living in Germany rose slightly last year to 6.76 million out of a total population of 82 million, the Federal Statistics Office said Tuesday.
This was an increase of 38,000 people, or 0.5 per cent, compared with 2004, said a statement.
Gunter Brueckner, a spokesman for the statistics office, said the figure was calculated by including births, deaths and foreigners leaving the country.
A higher number of foreigners, 7.3 million or 8.9 per cent of the population, is reported by Germany's resident registration bureaus, said Brueckner, who stressed this figure is far less reliable than that calculated by his statistics office.
Nevertheless, the 7.3 million figure continues to be the one most commonly cited in Germany.
Turks comprise 26 per cent of all foreigners living in Germany and continue to be the country's biggest minority, the statistics office said.
Italians are the second biggest group with 8 per cent, followed by Poles and Greeks with 5 per cent each and nationals from Serbia- Montenegro who comprise 4 per cent.
Some 1.4 million foreigners living in Germany were actually born in the country. Unlike the US, Germany does not grant automatic citizenship to people born on German territory.
The figures do not take into account illegal immigrants in Germany which some estimates say could number as many as 1 million.
Brueckner declined to make any comment on the number of illegal foreigners in Germany.
“This is all pure speculation based on talks with social workers or the churches,” he said.
DPA
Subject: German news
