Germany: number of people with immigrant roots rises

BERLIN – Official data show that the number of people in Germany with immigrant roots increased 4.4 per cent last year to nearly 19.3 million.

The Federal Statistical Office said Wednesday that 51 per cent of those people were German citizens. It defines a person with an immigrant background as someone who either wasn’t born a German citizen or has at least one parent who wasn’t.

The largest groups were 2.8 million people with Turkish, 2.1 million with Polish, 1.4 million with Russian and 1.2 million with Kazakh roots.

The report, based on an annual microcensus, didn’t give a reason for last year’s increase and didn’t collect details on people in communal shelters. Germany saw large numbers of refugees arrive in 2015-2016 but that influx has slowed.

Germany’s population is around 82 million.