Nearly one in four migrants in Germany is considering leaving the country, with Turkish nationals ranking among the top three groups thinking about a return home, Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish service reported on Wednesday, citing a recent study.
According to research by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), 3 percent of migrants surveyed have concrete plans to leave Germany. Motivations include political dissatisfaction, high tax burdens, bureaucratic challenges and personal factors — common across migrants who came for work, education or family reunification.
Discrimination also plays a role, particularly among refugees.
Turks ranked among the top nationalities considering returning to their countries of origin, following migrants from Poland and Romania, according to DW. Ukrainians were also high on the list. The study found that migrants from European Union member states were the most likely to consider returning, often citing family and social ties as their primary motivation.
Others are looking to migrate onward, particularly to Switzerland, the United States and Spain, primarily for career opportunities and economic reasons. Career aspirations were especially relevant for migrants in IT, finance, insurance and corporate services, where 30 to 39 percent said they were considering leaving. In sectors such as health and social care, manufacturing and logistics, the figure ranged from 24 to 28 percent.
Lukas Olbrich, one of the study’s authors, said migrants who came to Germany for work or education — and who tend to be better educated, more economically successful, and more linguistically integrated — were more likely than others to consider leaving or making concrete plans to do so. He noted that these people are exactly the kind of skilled labor Germany urgently needs.
Migration expert Yuliya Kosyakova urged the government to offer long-term perspectives to migrants.
According to the study, one in five migrants with plans to leave said they would like to return to Germany in the long term. About half were undecided, while the rest said they did not plan to come back.
As of 2023 around 21.2 million people in Germany had a migrant background, including 14.1 million foreign nationals, DW said.
The survey was conducted as part of the International Mobility Panel of Migrants in Germany (IMPa) and included 50,000 migrants aged 18 to 65 who were born abroad and arrived in Germany before April 2, 2024.