The majority of people in Germany like to live here and are not thinking about emigrating. But around a fifth of the population can imagine leaving Germany. Germans with a migrant background think about emigration slightly more often than Germans without a migrant background. Non-voters are particularly likely to consider emigrating. Southern European and Eastern European countries as well as Austria and Switzerland are most frequently mentioned as potential emigration destinations. Southern European countries are particularly popular with Germans with a migrant background. For foreigners, Eastern Europe is by far the most popular region for potential emigration.
When people consider leaving Germany, the focus is rarely on new experiences. Instead, dissatisfaction with life in Germany plays an important role. The dissatisfaction has many faces. Behind the often coded motif of "other dissatisfaction" is a colourful bouquet of dissatisfactions: education system, pension system, tax burden, the way society works or a rather vague feeling that things are going in the wrong direction in Germany. On the one hand, there is a group of people who are dissatisfied because, in their view, too many migrants come to Germany and they are given preferential treatment. This dissatisfaction is often combined with concerns about excessive crime, a lack of security, but also about restricted freedom of expression and a lack of democracy in Germany. On the other hand, there is a group that is dissatisfied because it is afraid of right-wing extremism and the strengthening of the AfD. Among Germans with a migrant background and foreigners, it is also part of the fact that they feel discriminated against and not welcome. These findings illustrate an increasing polarization in parts of the population. Some of those who are dissatisfied with migration and crime – especially those who also vote for the AfD – are diametrically opposed to those who are afraid of right-wing extremism and the AfD – including above all voters of the Greens.
For the representative survey, a total of 3,015 people were interviewed by telephone from October 2024 to January 2025, of which around 1,000 each were Germans without a migration background, Germans with a migration background and foreigners living in Germany.
