Try it for yourself
297Migration and statistics

The catalogue answer is Turkey; current figures need a definition.

The distinction is especially important here: learn the fixed exam answer and always read current migration figures with their reference year and population definition.

About 4 min readReviewed: 20 October 2026
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Federal Statistical OfficeMigration · 2025 data
Symbolic illustration of migration; not evidence of a country of origin or a representation of statistical quantities.
The short answer

In the existing question bank: from Turkey.

The stored answer is “Turkey”. As a general statement about today’s population, the question is too imprecise. Destatis’s first results for 2025 distinguish immigrants themselves from people with immigration history including certain descendants. These groups have different rankings.

Try it for yourselfExam question · No. 297
From which country have most migrants come to Germany?

Choose one answer. Your result stays on this page only.

Who is included in the figure?

In the Destatis definition, people have an immigration history if they themselves or both parents immigrated to Germany since 1950. Immigrants themselves are a subset of this group. A person born in Germany can therefore belong to the first group but not the second.

For 2025, the table reports about 1.523 million immigrants themselves from Poland and 1.472 million from Turkey in private households at the main residence. In the broader group including the descendants covered, the figures are about 2.648 million connected with Turkey and 1.960 million with Poland. These are different columns of the same survey, not a contradiction.

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AI-generated learning scene. Appearance or hairstyle does not establish origin or immigration experience.

The other three answers

Incorrect exam options do not mean unimportant migration connections.

Italy

Italy is not the stored answer. Recruitment from Italy is historically important: the Federal Republic’s first recruitment agreement was concluded with Italy in 1955. Early recruitment does not, however, answer a question about the size of a later population group.

Poland

Poland is not the correct selection in this question bank. The current qualification matters: among immigrants themselves, Poland ranks ahead of Turkey in the first results for 2025. The catalogue answer must therefore not be presented as a current ranking without a definition.

Morocco

Morocco is not the catalogue answer. There was also a recruitment agreement with Morocco. The existence of such an agreement does not show which statistically defined population group is largest.

Country of birth, citizenship and annual arrivals are different measures.

Citizenship is not the same as personal immigration experience. The number of people living in Germany is also different from the number arriving in a particular year. Headings and footnotes are therefore part of a statistical statement.

The figures quoted are rounded first results for 2025, not a live count for October 2026. They concern the stated household population. They do not establish any individual’s identity, language, religion or citizenship.

Migration · 2025 data · Federal Statistical Office ↗
Your memory cue

Exam: Turkey. Statistics: read the year and definition first.

Keep the fixed catalogue answer separate from the interpretation of current data.

Three words for this question

eingewandertimmigrated
Personally moved to Germany from abroad.
die Einwanderungsgeschichteimmigration history
Here, the defined Destatis group including certain descendants.
das Bezugsjahrreference year
The year to which a statistical figure refers.
Destatis · Bevölkerung mit Einwanderungsgeschichte 2025 ↗

Historical recruitment and current statistics answer different questions.

299Foreign workers who were recruited by the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s and 1960s were called …
Catalogue answer

guest workers

The term guest worker belongs to the history of labour migration.

300From which country did the first guest workers come to the Federal Republic of Germany?
Catalogue answer

Italy

The first recruitment agreement concerned Italy.

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Sources & context

An independently written study guide, not an official BAMF publication or advice for an individual case. The sources below were reviewed on 20 October 2026 for the claims explained here; the test question comes from the existing question bank.

The two editorial pictures are AI-generated illustrations. They do not document real events or official proceedings.