Germany: Over a Quarter of Population Has Immigrant Roots

Fans of Germany watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil quarter final match between Germany and France at the Fanmeile public viewing at Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin, Germany, on July 4, 2014. Matthias Kern/Bongarts/Getty Images

BERLIN—More than a quarter of Germany’s inhabitants are immigrants or have immigrant roots, according to official data for 2019 released Tuesday.

Some 21.2 million, or 26 percent of the total population, have a “migrant background,” according to figures from a 2019 microcensus, the Federal Statistical Office said. That is an increase of 2.1 percent compared to a year earlier—the smallest percentage increase since 2011, the office said.