This is not a mass flight from the country, but a clear migratory trend. A representative survey commissioned for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) shows that nearly one in five resident of Germany can imagine leaving the country in the near future. But citizens of Germany who are migrants or children of immigrants think about emigration somewhat more often than people without such a background.
Most residents of Germany like living here and are not considering emigration. However, around one fifth of the population can imagine leaving Germany. Germans with a migration background consider emigration somewhat more often than Germans without a migration background, the analysis reads.
In 2024, nearly 1.3 million people left Germany, including some 270,000 German citizens. These figures illustrate that thoughts of emigration do not remain merely in the realm of theory. The KAS study, however, focuses on potential emigrants — those who have not yet made a decision but are already weaving plans regarding their departure. Around 19 percent of native Germans, 24 percent of those with a migration background, and 22 percent of foreigners living in Germany declare a willingness to leave. The strongest predictor (a variable, datum, or characteristic that allows one to predict or explain the value of another variable — ed. note) is not ethnic origin but age and degree of life satisfaction. People under 65 consider changing their place of residence significantly more often than seniors.
The analysis confirms that sociodemographic factors play a secondary role.
The preferred destinations of emigration are equally telling. Respondents most often point to countries of southern Europe, followed by Eastern Europe, Austria, and Switzerland. Germans without a migration background would most willingly see themselves in Austria, Switzerland, or Scandinavia. People with a migration background more strongly emphasize the south, 28 percent versus 16 percent in the native group. The situation looks completely different among foreigners living in Germany. This group strongly prefers Eastern Europe, with one in three of them naming this direction. In this context, Poland appears in the report as one of the most frequently spontaneously mentioned specific destination countries. Poland is therefore perceived as an attractive destination above all by foreigners living in Germany. Ethnic Germans rarely mention Poland as a target of their emigration.
The main motive is multifaceted dissatisfaction with German reality. Among the foreigners living in Germany analyzed by KAS, dissatisfaction with life in Germany ranks first as a motive. They criticize the education system, the pension system, the tax burden, stagnation, and the conviction that Germany is heading in the wrong direction.
Others, however, emphasize a growing sense of insecurity, the weakness of the state, and restrictions on freedom of speech. Among Germans with a migration history in the background, fear of a right-wing turn and discrimination resonates more strongly. In parallel, pragmatic-hedonistic motives emerge, with 15 percent of those surveyed dreaming of a higher standard of living and lower cost of living, better health care, or a dignified pension abroad. The study confirms that in most cases there are many motives for departure. Among foreigners, family and partner reasons are particularly strong, as much as 25 percent, sometimes linked to longing for the country of origin. Poland appears in this context not as a target of mass German emigration, but as a concrete, practical direction for a group of foreigners seeking a culturally closer country and economically better living conditions.
