Migration: One in three students has an immigration history

Last year, 29 percent of students at general education schools in Germany had an immigration history. The majority – 59 percent – had no immigration history. A further 12 percent of students had a parent who immigrated to Germany. This was reported by the Federal Statistical Office.

A person has an immigration history if he or she or both parents have immigrated to Germany since 1950.

According to the statisticians, the picture was different for teachers: only around 11 percent of teachers had an immigration history in 2023. Another 5 percent had an immigrant parent and 84 percent had no immigration history, the Federal Office said.

Migration share increased in five years

The proportion of people with an immigration history has increased in both the student body and the teaching staff at general education schools over the past five years. In 2018, just under 26 percent of students had an immigration history, which was three percentage points less than in 2023. Among teaching staff, the proportion of people with an immigration history was just under 9 percent in 2018, two percentage points lower than last year.

North Rhine-Westphalia has the most migrant students

According to the Federal Statistical Office, most students with an immigration history will attend school in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2023. 689,000 children and young people there will have an immigration history, more than a third of the students.

At the bottom of the list is Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 20,000 migrant students – around 12 percent of the student body. The numbers are also comparatively low in Thuringia (30,000, around 13 percent) and Saxony-Anhalt (33,000, around 15 percent).

The Federal Office’s results refer to the population in private households where their main residence is. The population in shared accommodation, such as refugees living there, is not included.