Persons with a migration background from predominantly Muslim countries , Date: 2020.07.23, Order number: FFWP87, format: Working paper, area: Authority , Analyses on the basis of the Microcensus 2018

Working Paper 87 provides basic information on persons with a migration background from various predominantly Muslim countries. We consider persons who immigrated from Turkey and twelve other countries from the Middle and Near East, North Africa and South Eastern Europe, as well as their relatives who were born in Germany.

Using the Microcensus 2018 (MC 2018) the results show that roughly 5.8 million persons with a migration background from the predominantly Muslim countries included live in Germany. This equates to seven percent of the total population. We are not able to derive the number and proportion of Muslim believers from this result. Like other official statistics, the MC does not systematically record religion.

Key findings

  • Persons from predominantly Muslim countries live all around Germany. There are however significant regional differences observable: In the old federal states as well as Berlin, their share of the respective total population (8 percent) is significantly higher than in the new federal states (2 percent).
  • Where a distinction is made within the overall group according to country of birth, and/or country of birth of the parents, we see that persons of Turkish ethnicity form the largest group, at 47 percent. The second largest is made up of persons from the Near East (19 percent), including large numbers of refugees from Iraq and Syria who have come to Germany in recent years. All in all, the group of persons from predominantly Muslim countries has become more diverse with regard to their countries of origin. This finding is to be viewed in relation to the large-scale immigration that has taken place from crisis regions in the Near and Middle East.
  • There are contrasts with regard to academic and vocational educational levels: The proportion of adult men and women from a predominantly Muslim country who have acquired a university entrance qualification is 28 percent, and is therefore only slightly lower than among the overall population in Germany (34 percent). At the same time, the proportion of those without a school-leaving qualification is disproportionately high. Additionally, roughly half of the adults from a predominantly Muslim country do not have a (recognised) vocational or academic qualification. In view of the fact that this population group is comparatively young, a need can be identified here to enable individuals to complete their skill sets and add additional skills.

The Working Paper was drawn up by: Katrin Pfündel, Dr. Anja Stichs and Dr. Nadine Halle

The Working Paper is only available in German.

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