Largest number of Germans leave since 1950
Expatica News
6 July 2006
BERLIN – The highest number of Germans left their country and moved abroad last year since shortly after World War II, the Federal Statistics Office said Thursday.
Some 145,000 Germans emigrated in 2005, the highest figure since 1950, said a statement.
No data is available on the motives of those leaving Germany, said the Statistics Office.
For the first time since the 1960s, more German nationals left the country in 2005 than immigrated to Germany. The deficit for 2005 was 17,000 people, said the statement.
Europe's biggest economy has suffered record unemployment in recent years and the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate is currently almost 11 per cent.
A total of 628,000 people left Germany last year, most of them foreigners. About 707,000 settled in Germany from abroad in 2005, giving the country net immigration of 79,000 people.
This is 4 per cent less net immigration than in 2004, said the statement.
Of those arriving in Germany last year 579,000 were foreigners and 128,000 were ethnic Germans arriving from eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union or Germans living abroad who returned home.
DPA
