By Sebastian Geisler
Will there soon be many more people living in Germany than now?
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (64, SPD) expects strong growth in the number of inhabitants! “We have well over 80 million inhabitants, but that’s still increasing,” he said on Saturday in Potsdam at a citizens’ dialogue in his Bundestag constituency. One reason: immigration.
︎ Scholz: “The Federal Statistical Office has presented a calculation that is quite plausible that it will continue to grow towards 90 million.” In addition, there is a record employment rate. By facilitating the immigration of skilled workers, the federal government wants to ensure “that we keep things running here”.
Population growth also keeps pension contributions stable. “It looks like we’re almost going to get to the end of the legislative period (2025) and won’t see any substantial increases in contributions,” said Scholz.
The Chancellor had already said at the federal government’s digital summit that he expected further significant population growth in the coming years.
With the so-called “chance card”, the traffic light government wants to make it easier for unskilled workers from non-EU countries to move to Germany.
This should attract up to 400,000 foreign workers annually. Criteria include: education, language skills, professional experience, a personal connection to Germany and age (the younger, the better).
The federal government also wants to attract more engineers to the country and make it easier for degrees to be recognised.