One-fifth of young Germans are set to emigrate from the country as its economic situation worsens, a report has found.
Research published in the academic journal Forschung und Lehre indicates that 21 per cent of young people aged from 14 to 29 are actively planning to leave the country.
A further 20 per cent claim they are currently considering the option, with economic difficulties cited as a major push factor.
The report also indicated that young people see themselves as suffering from substantial levels of stress, exhaustion, and anxiety.
“The results of the trend study dramatically show how much the pressures of recent years are affecting young people – in the form of stress, exhaustion and growing lack of prospects,” Simon Schnetzer, who directed the story, said.
This week’s report comes amid increasing fears regarding the state of the German economy, with the ongoing energy crisis accelerating the process of deindustrialisation affecting its major manufacturing sectors.
Katherina Reiche, Germany’s economics minister, sounded further alarm bells on the issue on April 7, saying that her country was engaging in a level of “self-deception” in thinking that a shift to renewables would fix its current problems.
“Our industry is bleeding out. Deindustrialization is accelerating,” the Christian Democrat wrote in a guest article published by flagship business outlet the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
She nevertheless insisted that the country’s green targets would remain in place, instead arguing that government subsidies for the sector should be rolled back, saying that this would reduce overall costs for energy generated by the likes of wind and solar.
“We are decarbonizing – but not through deindustrialization. We are modernizing – but not by overburdening households and businesses,” she claimed.
The largest of Europe’s economies, the mass emigration of young people has not traditionally been a problem for modern Germany, with the country’s substantial industrial base resulting in a wealth of entry-level jobs for tradesmen and university graduates.
Despite this new spike, mass emigration remains less of a structural problem in Germany than it is in Ireland, with data gathered last year indicating that 60 per cent of Irish under-25s were looking to leave the country.
According to the National Youth Council of Ireland, this is down from 70 per cent in 2024.