German Immigration Report Card: Integration Fairytale Fails to Spread from Football Field to Society

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• Professions: Migrants from the classic feeder nations -- for Germany, that includes Turkey, Greece and Italy -- tend to be overrepresented in gastronomy (catering, restaurants and bars) or trade. Of those who were self-employed only a very small proportion worked in skilled trades. "Company-related, knowledge-intensive and freelance services were provided more frequently by immigrants with a German passport than by foreigners," the report says, referencing various studies.
• Crime: During his election campaign in 2008, Roland Koch, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives who was facing a tough re-election battle as governor of the western state of Hesse, said that Germany must crack down on "criminal young foreigners." But the report suggests that migrants are becoming less likely to commit crimes. According to police statistics, in 1993 the proportion of "non-German offenders" was 33.6 percent. In 2009, that figure had dropped to 21 percent. One thing that the report shows very clearly is this: The individuals who do not feel welcome in Germany and those who do not have a residence permit, are more likely to commit crime. Immigrants with permission to remain in Germany are no more likely to commit crimes than German citizens.
• Illegal Immigration: One can only estimate the number of illegal immigrants living in Germany. According to the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, there were between 200,000 and 460,000 individuals living in Germany without permission at the end of 2007.
• Health: The report indicates that immigrants get sick more often. "However it is not immigration itself that causes illness," the report says. "Besides behavior that entails health risks, there are the reasons behind, and circumstances of, migration that can lead to a worse state of health -- as well as the living and working conditions of those with migrant backgrounds. Often factors that have to do with a lower socioeconomic status also come into it." Those factors can include poor nutrition, too little physical activity and fewer opportunities for living a healthy life.
• Women's Affairs: Many women from Turkey and from the former Soviet Union are victims of domestic abuse. Over the past few years, several studies have revealed this and these are analyzed in the government report. "Violence in couples affects Turkish women in far higher numbers -- it is above average for the female population of Germany," the report says.
• Sports: 2.8 million immigrants belong to sports clubs. They make up 10 percent of all sports club members -- even though 19 percent of all those living in Germany are immigrants. However immigrants in sports clubs are unlikely to do volunteer work at those clubs. The report indicates a big problem in that very few female immigrants are active in sports clubs.

So what are the lessons for the German government can learn from the report? The federal commissioner for integration sees a need to act in the areas of education and in language training above all. More teachers and social workers with immigrant backgrounds are needed in schools. Additionally, the final year at kindergarten should become compulsory, Böhmer argues, so that immigrant children can better learn German.

The compulsory integration courses that immigrants have had to attend in Germany since 2007, where they learn German as well as the basics of German politics and society are a "great, successful model," Böhmer adds. The commissioner said that she would provide an additional €15 million in funding for the programs.

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• Part 1: Integration Fairytale Fails to Spread from Football Field to Society
• Part 2: Immigrants Less Likely to Commit Crimes