Immigration into Germany in the first six months of 2020 suddenly decelerated due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the number of immigrants from Croatia significantly decreased, the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden said on Thursday.

In the first six months of 2020, 529,000 people moved to Germany, which is a drop of 29% year-on-year, the German statistical office said.

In January and February, the number of immigrants was approximately at 2019 levels, but from March to May, when a lockdown was imposed in Germany, the number of immigrants dropped by 42%.

Emigration from Germany also decelerated in the frist six months of 2020, so there were 455,000 emigrants.

The number of immigrants from Croatia markedly decreased, and the German statistical office told Hina that 13,159 persons moved from Croatia to Germany in the first six months of this year.

In the same period in 2019, 21,869 Croatians moved to Germany, which means that the number of immigrants from Croatia in the first half of 2020 dropped by 39.8% on the year.

In the same period, 10,886 persons moved from Germany to Croatia.

The largest number of immigrants to Germany come from EU member states, namely Romania (89,262), Poland (50,870) and Bulgaria (30,340).

In the first six months of 2020, 10,263 persons moved to Germany from Serbia (-29.1% y-o-y), and 8,522 persons moved from Bosnia and Herzegovina (-37% y-o-y).