In 2025, approximately 21.8 million people residing in Germany had an immigration background. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this group represented 26.3 percent of the total population living in private main households, marking a slight increase of 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year (which stood at 25.8 percent). According to the statisticians’ definition, an immigration background includes individuals who moved to Germany themselves (first generation) or whose both parents did so (second generation).
Roughly one in five people living in Germany, amounting to 19.8 percent of the population, immigrated themselves. This represented 16.4 million immigrants in 2025, an increase of 1.7 percent-or 28,000 people-compared to 2024. This growth rate was notably slower than in previous years; for comparison, between 2021 and 2024, the annual increase in self-immigrated individuals averaged 6.2 percent, or 888,000 people. Of the 16.4 million self-immigrated individuals in 2025, the majority-6.3 million (39 percent of all immigrants)-were born in one of five countries: Poland (1.5 million), Turkey (1.5 million), Ukraine (1.3 million), the Russian Federation (1.0 million), and Syria (1.0 million).
Separately, 5.4 million people (6.5 percent of the population) in 2025 were direct descendants of immigrants; these are individuals born in Germany to two parents who immigrated after 1950. This group also contributes to the overall population with an immigration background. Their numbers increased by 3 percent-or 160,000 people-compared to 2024. It is important to note that individuals whose parents’ migration status differed (only one parent immigrated) are not included in the “immigration background” population. In 2025, this group consisted of 4.2 million people born in Germany, making up 5.0 percent of the population, an increase of 0.2 percentage points or 10,000 people from the previous year.
In contrast, 56.8 million people without an immigration background resided in Germany in 2025 (68.6 percent of the population), representing a decrease of 0.9 percent, or 488,000 people compared to the previous year. These individuals neither immigrated themselves after 1950 nor were born to at least one immigrant parent.
Overall, the number of people with an immigration background rose from 13.0 million since 2005 to 21.8 million in 2025, representing an increase of 8.8 million people, or 67 percent. Within this total, about two-thirds (67 percent, or 5.9 million people) immigrated themselves, and about one-third (33 percent, or 2.9 million people) were born to two immigrant parents. Between 2005 and 2025, the share of the population with an immigration background increased by about 10 percentage points, from 16.0 percent to 26.3 percent.
On average, the population residing in private main households in 2025 was 38,000 people smaller than the previous year’s average. Excluding the rising number of people with an immigration background, the decline would have been significantly steeper, falling by 478,000 people (-0.9 percent).
Compared to the total population, those with an immigration background are younger. In the 25-to-34 age group in 2025, more than one in three people (36 percent) had an immigration background. This compared to only one in seven people (14 percent) in the over-65 age group. Consequently, the population with an immigration background had an average age of 38.2 years in 2025, about nine years younger than the population without an immigration background (47.6 years).
Among young, self-immigrated adults aged 25 to 34, 33 percent (896,000 people) held a university degree, bringing their proportion close to that of the entire population in this age group (34 percent). Conversely, 36 percent of self-immigrated individuals aged 25 to 34 (1.0 million people) had no professional qualification and were neither studying nor in training. This rate was more than double the rate among all individuals in this age group (17 percent). Correspondingly, the proportion of self-immigrated young adults with vocational qualifications was lower: while 46 percent of all 25-to-34-year-olds in Germany had completed vocational training through the dual system or a specialized college, this figure was only 27 percent for those who immigrated themselves.
