The Exiting German

Around fifteen years ago in Germany....one of the commercial networks started up this reality show which was about various Germans who were fed-up and were going to leave Germany (permanently).  It was one of those odd shows that I ended watching weekly.

Some folks simply had some pasion about some foreign place.  Some had bold and realistic plans.  Some had barely any plan, and you could tell that they were going to return within six months admitting absolute defeat.  Some folks fell into some great adventure and seemed to thrive.

I admired these folks to some degree.

I noticed via Focus today....a short article that came out of the German national Federal Statistical Office. 

They wanted Germans to know that roughly 500,000 immigrants had settled into Germany in 2016.....no real shocker on that number (I probably expected it to be closer to 1-million but that was just a guess).

But then they came to this other odd number.  281,000 Germans left Germany that year.  The year prior?  140,000 Germans left permanently.

Why the higher number?  No one can say precisely.

There is this one theory that the 140,000 'extra' folks were simply full-up immigrants (with a visa), who just hit some point of reality after two or three years, and said enough....leaving to go back to the home-country.  The thing is....you can't prove that point because no one collected that kind of data.

But you can take out of this whole statistical data game is that in a normal year.....without the immigration game being played out.....somewhere around 100,000 to 140,000 Germans just leave.

Back fifty years ago....the US would have likely been the most popular place.  I've come to notice a fair number of Germans making their way down to Spain....or up into Sweden.  A fair number even make their way out to Canada or Australia.

What drives a German to leave?  I think some just want a change of pace or some new challenge.  Some discover after a year or two outside the country....that they've had enough of a change of pace, and prefer to return back to Germany.  Some are happy enough and never return.