“It was only a brief post, but it was enough to make emotions boil over. Thorsten Alsleben, managing director of the employer-backed initiative 'New Social Market Economy' (Neue Soziale Marktwirtschaft), recently wrote on the platform X: 'Today, the fifth couple from our close circle of friends told us they are planning to emigrate. All five families have young children, all are entrepreneurs, and all earn a great deal of money. Three are heading to Mallorca, two to Portugal. It’s madness.'
The online debate quickly turned heated and emotional. Some confirmed what Alsleben had described, while others disagreed. Then, Karl Lauterbach (SPD) weighed in. The former health minister commented: 'It is this constant bad-mouthing that harms us the most—these perpetual exaggerations from young talents who supposedly can’t cope with high pension contributions ("sniff") and are therefore choosing to emigrate.'" "We can do without these people—if they even exist at all."
A high-ranking politician who is indifferent to the fact that high achievers are leaving the country in droves? The uproar only intensified. Lauterbach later deleted the post, claiming he had been misunderstood.
What might appear to be a mere summer squabble actually has a serious underlying reality.
Last year, nearly 290,000 people holding German passports left the country. In net terms—that is, after accounting for those who returned—the loss amounted to nearly 97,000 German citizens, the highest figure since such statistics began to be recorded. Furthermore, a representative survey titled "Youth in Germany 2026" recently revealed that one in five young people has concrete plans to emigrate.
At the same time, Germany is becoming less attractive to citizens from other EU countries. After decades during which more people from Eastern Europe moved to Germany than the other way around, the trend has now reversed. Take Poland, for example: fifteen years ago, there was a net influx of 66,000 Poles into Germany, many of them skilled professionals. Last year, by contrast, there was a net outflow of 17,000 Poles. In total, 54,000 EU citizens turned their backs on Germany. Only thanks to arrivals from the rest of the world did the country see a net gain of 235,000 people last year.
Labor market experts argue that this level of immigration is far too low to fill the gaps left in the workforce by the retiring baby boomer generation. According to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Germany would require an annual net migration of approximately 400,000 people to keep the labor supply stable in the long term.
Stefan Kolev, an economist and head of the... At the Ludwig Erhard Forum in Berlin, these figures are a cause for concern. "The trend of more and more people leaving is like a thermometer indicating a fever—a fever we ought to be paying attention to, but aren't yet," he says. What makes the problem even more acute from an economic perspective is that it is not retirees or those without professional prospects who are leaving.
On average, these German emigrants are 35 years old, employed, and possess higher-than-average educational qualifications.
People like Johanna Gollnhofer are a case in point. When she had to decide where to pursue her doctorate after completing a master’s degree in business administration, she received offers from both Germany and Switzerland. She explains that a position in Munich was only half-funded; when she asked how she was supposed to live on such a small salary, she was told that, as a native of Munich, she could simply move back in with her parents.
Today, Gollnhofer is a professor of marketing at the University of St. Gallen. She has never regretted her move to Switzerland—the number one destination for Germans who emigrate.
When asked what she considers Switzerland’s greatest advantage as a place to live and work, the researcher does not point to money first, but rather to the mentality. "There is a certain pragmatism here, and less ideology," says Gollnhofer. "And there is also an expectation of a high degree of personal responsibility." "You can set a lot in motion, but nothing actually moves forward." That, he says, is precisely the issue.
The reasons for emigrating are varied; economist Kolev speaks in terms of the "cost-benefit ratio of the state." The "benefit" side encompasses healthcare, the education system, infrastructure, public safety, and opportunities for professional advancement. On the other side is the "cost"—taxes, levies, bureaucracy, and mounting national debt. "If the cost—in the form of taxes, levies, or debt—rises while the benefits decline, the scales tip toward emigration," Kolev explains. This is especially true when, as is the case in Germany, economic dynamism is weaker than it is beyond the country's borders.
Kolev teaches at the Zwickau University of Applied Sciences. He has observed a shift among students in recent years. Before the pandemic, most were deeply rooted in their home regions; even moving to southern Germany was seen as a major hurdle.
"Today, some of these students discuss how long it would take to learn Polish—with the potential goal of emigrating to Poland."
While the level of prosperity there may not yet be as high as it is in Germany, he notes that this is offset by other factors: greater economic dynamism, a more positive atmosphere, punctual trains, and lower taxes.
The topic of emigration is omnipresent among his students, says Kolev. This motivated him to write a book on the subject, due for release this autumn. Titled "Prosperity for the Young" (*Wohlstand für Junge*), the book—written by an economist who serves on the advisory board to Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche (CDU)—calls for a fundamental shift in policy: moving away from a "status quo" mindset toward a greater focus on the younger generation. He argues that this is also in the interest of the older generation. "On average, someone who is 65 today expects to receive a pension for another 17 years," he says—but that won't be possible if young people turn their backs on the country in large numbers.
At the same time, Kolev observes an "internal emigration" among many young people. They have little desire to volunteer for clubs or organizations, and in their professional lives, they do only the bare minimum required. This widespread frustration is also reflected in voting behavior, with political fringes gaining more support. In the 2025 federal election, for instance, the *Die Linke* (The Left) party and the AfD saw particularly strong backing among first-time voters.
Keeping young people in the country is one way to prevent labor market gaps from becoming too large. Another is to attract more skilled workers from abroad—a goal policymakers have been pursuing for years. The "traffic-light" coalition government expanded the Skilled Immigration Act in 2023, allowing foreign nationals to work in Germany—even without a formally recognized qualification—provided their employer consents.
Additionally, there is now an "opportunity card" (*Chancenkarte*), which enables interested individuals to come to Germany even without a specific job offer.
These measures are having an effect—though not on a large scale. According to the German Economic Institute (IW)—a think tank close to the business community—the number of skilled workers arriving from countries outside Europe has risen by approximately 33,000 since 2023, an increase of nearly 14 percent.
The Union parties and the SPD have set out to create a service-oriented hub called a "Work-and-Stay Agency." However, the project—which involves three different ministries—is dragging on. Meanwhile, a proposal to offer foreign skilled workers a temporary tax break has been abandoned; such a measure might well have further frustrated Germans—and perhaps even prompted some to leave the country themselves.” [1]
1. Die neue Lust am Auswandern: Junge, gut qualifizierte Deutsche verlassen das Land. Ein Ökonom sagt: Das "Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis" in Deutschland stimmt nicht mehr. Über eine übersehene Krise. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 01 Aug 2026: 17. Von Julia Löhr, Berlin, und Johannes Pennekamp, Frankfurt
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