Most German emigrants are drawn to Switzerland

"Since 1991, researchers have been observing an increasing number of emigrants. Many German citizens are drawn to Switzerland - for professional or financial reasons.

 

The land of mountains remains the land of the Germans: Switzerland is still the most popular destination for Germans who want to emigrate. According to the EU statistical authority Eurostat, nowhere else in Europe were so many German citizens resident at the beginning of 2021. In a European comparison, Switzerland is ahead of Austria and Spain, as the German Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday.

 

There are several reasons for the country's popularity, says Nils Witte, who researches motives for emigration and return at the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). In a study together with his colleagues, he interviewed German citizens who emigrated from the Federal Republic in the period from 2017 to 2018 - a topic that, according to him, has hardly been examined with regard to socio-structural and migration-related issues.

 

The basic motive for emigration is always an improvement in the standard of living. In the past, wars, famines or expulsions were often the triggers. Today there are, among other things, professional opportunities: “Switzerland is popular because there are career options that can lead to an improvement in living standards. In addition, there is a physical proximity to Germany and few language barriers,” says Witte. Among the emigrants are mainly academics or people with higher school degrees.

 

Normal part of our life

 

The BiB study showed that "financial reasons were a reason for 58 percent of German emigrants to Switzerland to emigrate, but only for just under 30 percent of German emigrants to other countries". Professional reasons played a role in 77 percent of the emigrants to Switzerland, to other countries only 59 percent. There were hardly any percentage differences among those who justified their emigration, among other things, with “personal lifestyle”.

 

The number of emigrants has been increasing since 1991. In the year after reunification, almost 600,000 people left Germany, but in 2016 the figure peaked at more than 1.3 million. However, the numbers in the migration statistics should be treated with caution, says Witte. "The 2016 peak is also related to a change in statistical recording, because emigration after 'unknown' was counted as emigration abroad." Nevertheless, he and his colleagues have observed a positive trend towards emigration since 1991. "We see that it is becoming increasingly normal to spend a certain amount of time abroad." Many have also returned. "However, a certain negative balance remains, as more go abroad than come back."

 

According to Witte, Germans often emigrate “who have previously been abroad or who have a migration background,” says Witte. In general, the view of migration has changed. In the past, this was often a singular event: "A person boarded a ship, traveled to the USA and lived there until the end of their lives," says Witte: "Meanwhile, stays abroad are becoming more and more a normal part of our lives. ""