24.3% people in Germany have immigration background

Nearly one in four people living in Germany have an immigration history - either they were born elsewhere or are direct descendants of those who did, reported dpa, quoting the German Federal Statistics Office on Thursday.

This amounts to 20.2 million people or 24.3% of the total population, the office said.

The agency defined people with an immigration history as those who have themselves immigrated to Germany since 1950, as well as their direct descendants, the "second generation."

The increase of people with an immigration background had grown by 6.5% or 1.2 million people compared to the previous year.

Refugee migration played a major role in this, especially due to the war in Ukraine. Thus, the number of immigrants who came to Germany recently rose by 7.3%, mainly due to refugees from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan, more than the number of direct descendants born in Germany to immigrant parents, which rose by 4%.