German Emigrants Flock to Austria

Switzerland remains the most popular European emigration destination for Germans ahead of Austria and the increasingly popular Spain. Nearly 323,600 people with German citizenship had their residence in Switzerland at the beginning of 2024, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany on Wednesday. That was 2.4 percent or 7,600 more than a year earlier. The increase in Austria was higher at 3.4 percent.

Switzerland ahead of Austria

"The number of Germans residing in Switzerland has been rising steadily for years," the statisticians explained. Over ten years, it increased by 10.7 percent or 31,300. "In second place among the most popular emigration destinations for Germans in Europe is another neighboring country, Austria," it was stated. There, at the beginning of 2024, about 232,700 people with German citizenship lived. The increase compared to the previous year was even higher than in Switzerland, at 3.4 percent or about 7,700 people.

Over ten years, the number of Germans in Austria rose by 41.2 percent or nearly 68,000. "Both countries share the fact that relocating for Germans is facilitated by the geographical proximity and the partially absent language barriers," the statisticians explained.

Spain in top three

As the first country outside the German-speaking area, Spain ranks third among the most popular emigration destinations. About 128,000 German citizens had their residence there at the beginning of 2024. This corresponds to an increase of 1.8 percent or nearly 2,300 people. "While the number of Germans in Spain continuously declined from 2014 to 2021, a trend reversal has been observed since 2022," it was stated. Nevertheless, at the beginning of 2024, about 9.8 percent or nearly 13,900 fewer Germans lived there than at the beginning of 2014.

Currently, France (91,100), the Netherlands (85,176), Belgium (40,987), and Italy (35,104) follow in the further ranks. The data comes from the EU statistical office Eurostat, with the current figures for Switzerland from the national Federal Statistical Office of Switzerland BFS. For the United Kingdom, only data up to 2019 is available, so it was not included in the present comparison. In 2019, nearly 142,400 Germans were registered there.

(APA/Red)

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