German parliament falls short on migrant representation, study finds

Germany’s new parliament significantly underrepresents people with migrant backgrounds, with only 11.6 per cent of lawmakers coming from immigrant families despite this group making up nearly a third of the country’s population, according to a study released Thursday.

Anadolu has reported that the analysis by Mediendienst Integration, a non-profit organisation focused on migration issues, revealed that just 73 of the Bundestag’s 630 members have migrant backgrounds. This representation falls considerably short, as 14.4 per cent of eligible voters have such backgrounds. It is also well below the approximately 30 per cent of Germany’s overall population with immigrant roots.

The study found significant variation in migrant representation across political parties. The progressive Greens lead with 20 per cent of their parliamentary members having immigrant backgrounds, up from 14.4 per cent in 2021. They are followed by the left-wing Die Linke at 18.8 per cent (down from 28.2 per cent in 2021) and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) at 17.5 per cent.

The conservative CDU/CSU bloc falls considerably behind with just 6.3 per cent representation, although this marks an improvement from 4.1 per cent in 2021. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has the lowest percentage at 5.9 per cent, down from 7.2 per cent in the previous parliament.

Most parliamentarians with migration backgrounds have connections to European Union countries (25 out of 73), with Poland being the most common country of origin, representing seven lawmakers. This reflects Germany’s close ties with its eastern neighbour and the significant Polish community within the country.

The second-largest group consists of 18 representatives with Turkish backgrounds, highlighting the substantial Turkish diaspora in Germany that dates back to labour migration agreements in the 1960s. Another notable group includes eight lawmakers with ties to former Soviet states, some of whom come from families of ethnic German repatriates who returned to Germany after the fall of the Soviet Union.

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