Record number of people leaving Berlin

A record number of people are opting to leave Berlin, according to recent figures from the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office (AfS). But internationals are still coming.

161.000 left Berlin in 2025

In recent decades, a whole list of economic, political and cultural factors has been drawing people to Berlin: affordable rent, a diversity of jobs, start-ups, high living standards, an excellent nightlife and food, a large international population, and an active left-wing political community, among other things.

Now, something is driving people away. According to figures from the Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office (AfS) and reported by Tagesspiegel, a record number of people chose to leave the capital in 2025.

In 2020, 145.000 people left the city. By 2024, the number of deserters had grown to 159.000, and in the first 11 months of 2025, it reached 161.000, a new record. 

Most new Berliners are internationals

So who is leaving Berlin and who is arriving? In 2024, more people left Berlin to live in other German federal states than arrived from another federal state.

And of the new Berliners, international people are hugely overrepresented. Of the 186.000 people who came to Berlin in 2024, nearly 122.000 arrived from another country. Indian nationals made up the largest group among international arrivals, followed by Ukrainian nationals.

Who is leaving Berlin and where are they going?

According to Frederick Sixtus, who studies German demographics at the Berlin Institute for Population and Development, a large proportion of the 161.000 people who left Berlin in 2025 were young families.

It is people aged between 30 and 49 who are most likely to leave Berlin, and, according to Sixtus, this is likely due to difficulty finding a home large enough to raise children.

This has resulted in families moving to the surrounding state of Brandenburg. “Nearly double the number of Berliners are moving to Brandenburg as the other way round,” Sixtus explained. In 2025, around 17.300 Brandenburgers moved to Berlin, while 29.000 Berliners moved to Brandenburg.

Like many other European cities, the housing market in Berlin is facing an under-occupation problem: many residents (often pensioners) live in homes far too large, while those who need larger homes (often families) can't find somewhere big enough.

According to Eurostat, 31 percent of 18 to 64-year-olds and 45 percent of over-65s live in an under-occupied home in Germany. This figure is just below the European average. A number of European cities, such as Cork and The Hague, have adopted "right-sizing" policies, such as facilitating swaps, to try to better match homes and occupants.