The Contribution of Immigration to Stabilizing Demographic Trends

There are also clear gains from new immigration among 0-to-9 and 30-to-39-year-olds, whereas it has not led to any significant changes among 10-to-19 and 40-to-49-year-olds. The proportion of older people has declined as a result of immigration. From a demographic point of view, there is still a great need for immigrants, especially among those who were in their teens in 2017, as they will be needed to replace the baby boomers in the labour market. Mobility within the EU, which has been a mainstay of immigration in recent years, has little more to offer in this respect because the countries European immigrants have traditionally come from have themselves large demographic gaps in this age group. For this reason, immigration policy in the coming years will need to focus increasingly on third countries with still-growing populations. The focus should be on immigrants intent upon working or studying, since the contribution they actually make to meeting the challenges posed by the demographic transition will be determined by how successfully they can be integrated into the German labour market.