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BERLIN (AP) — A quarter of all people living in Germany have a migrant background — the highest figure yet recorded in the country of 83 million.
The German Statistical Office said Wednesday that 25.5% of the population, or about 20.8 million people, have migrant roots according to the latest figures from 2018. That's an increase of 2.5% compared with 2017.
The agency defines a person as having a "migrant background" if they or at least one parent held a foreign passport at birth.
Immigration remains a contentious topic in Germany despite repeated waves of migration throughout history.
After World War II, millions of workers from Turkey helped rebuild Germany. Many never returned home, but instead brought their families.
More recently, over a million migrants fled to Germany from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
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