Movement is hampered by cultural differences
There is no significant tendency on the part of the population to emigrate,
although all residents are free to do so, and to take all their assets with them.
There is still a certain amount of migration within Germany itself, generally
from east to west, although this trend is now slowing as living standards and
costs in the east rise towards the national average.
The German population does not have a tradition of mobility within the
country. Movement is hampered by cultural differences and by other factors,
such as the decentralised education system with a different syllabus for the
schools of each province. There are only two indigenous national minorities, a
small Danish minority in northern Schleswig-Holstein (just south of the Danish
border) and a small Sorb population living in the general area to the south east
of Berlin. The foreign population numbers some 6.6m (8.2% of the total), of
which Turkish citizens form by far the largest single national group, numbering
1.6m. Other significant groups are Italians, Poles, Greeks, Croats, Russians and
Bosnians.
EU Forecast
euf:ba18e:7/nws-01