Record German Emigration

Home > European Union, Population

Record German Emigration

Thursday, August 31st, 2006 | European Union, Population |

Koerber is one of 145,000 Germans who fled the fatherland last year amid record postwar unemployment, pushing emigration to its highest level since 1954, Federal Statistics Office figures show. Last year was also the first since the late 1960s that emigrants outnumbered Germans returning home from living abroad, the statistics office said.

Taking into account gross pay, taxes, insurance and the cost of living, doctors make more money in Switzerland, said Matthias Dettmer, 31, an assistant pathologist in Zurich from the southern German city of Tuebingen. He makes more than double his former colleagues in Germany, who earn what he calls a “cleaner’s pay.”

“I don’t know yet whether I’ll ever go back,” said Dettmer. “Under the prevailing conditions, it would be a hard sell to convince me that it’s better in Germany.” Koerber, who’s striving for permanent Canadian residency, said there’s little point trying to persuade him to return home. “I’ll never come back,” he said. “Guaranteed.”

Germany has one of the world’s lowest birthrates, ranking 223rd out of 225 countries. Adding emigration on top of that is going to devestate their culture and the tax base needed to sustain their social programs.

No comments yet.