Since the European migration crisis of 2015, attitudes towards migration have been divided across the continent. But a new study by the Bertelsmann Foundation shows that German attitudes towards migration may be becoming less sceptical, despite some reservations.
According to the study, Germans are more positive about migration than they have been in previous years. "In essence, our survey shows that scepticism towards immigration is still widespread in Germany, but it has continually declined in recent years," said Ulrike Wieland, co-author of the study.
The Bertelsmann Foundation has been conducting similar studies of German residents since 2012, allowing for attitudes during the booming migration period in 2015 to be monitored and compared with years both before and after. Initially, reporting aimed to see how the German population felt about the migration of skilled labour, but over time became more focused on studying the response to all types of migration into the country.
Despite the study finding some positive data, it also shows that more than a third of Germans don’t want to see more migration into the country. While many Germans see migration as a potential fix to Germany’s demographic problems, large percentages of people believe that migrants place a burden on the German economy and are concerned about conflict between the host population and newcomers.
Almost 70 percent of people agree with both of those statements, and the disparity between migrants and skilled labour is further highlighted by the amount of people who say that they would accept them. While both skilled migrants and refugees would be accepted by a majority of German society, those seeking employment or academic opportunities would be accepted by 71 percent of the population, those seeking protection would only be accepted by 51 percent.