The number of Croatian nationals living in Germany is constantly increasing, reaching 367,900 at the end of 2017, up by about 35,300 from early 2017, the German statistics office in Wiesbaden said on Thursday.

The rise in the number of German residents with Croatian citizenship began when Croatia joined the European Union and the German labour market opened to Croatians in July 2013. Five years earlier, some 225,000 Croatians lived in Germany at the end of 2012.

As for the duration of their stay in Germany, about 104,000 or less than a third, have been living in Germany between one and four years, while 36,900 have lived there for less than a year. By German federal state, Baden-Wuerttemberg is the most popular with 109,500 Croatians living there, followed by 98,900 in Bavaria.

Overall, the number of foreigners living in Germany has reached a record high 10.6 million, rising by 585,000 over the past 12 months. The share of persons holding foreign passports living in Germany rose to 13 percent of the total population.

By country of origin, some 439,000 immigrants came from the European Union’s eastern member states during 2017, making them the largest single group, while the number of immigrants coming from outside the EU – who had made up the majority of incoming refugees in previous years – has dropped.