Significantly fewer foreigners moved to Germany in 2023 than in previous years. The number of Croatian citizens immigrating to Germany also fell for the first time, the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday.

While 2,665,772 foreigners came to Germany in 2022, this figure fell to 1,932,509 last year, according to the office.

For the first time since Croatia joined the EU in mid-2013, more Croatian citizens left Germany last year than arrived. In 2022, 20,604 Croatian citizens moved to Germany, while 24,241 moved away.

At the end of last year, 434,035 Croatian citizens were living in Germany, compared to the 332,605 who were registered in 2016.

The number of people moving from Croatia to Germany has been declining since 2019. At that time, 48,379 Croatians moved to Germany.

The same trend can be observed in other newer EU member countries such as Romania and Bulgaria, where the number of their immigrants to Germany has decreased over the last five years.

At the same time, the number of immigrants from Kosovo and North Macedonia has risen slightly, as their citizens have been allowed to immigrate under the Western Balkans Regulation since 2016.