Germany Needs 500,000 Immigrants A Year Till 2050: Study

Germany seems to be becoming a nation with a large number of "baby boomers" that are on the verge of retirement. Due to fewer laborers in Germany, half a million immigrants are needed every year for 35 years, according to a study that foresees a sharp decline in Germany's workforce.

According to the Bertelsmann Institute, in the next 15 years, half the German laborers will retire and become pensioners, reveals a study published Friday. Germany without immigrants will show a labor pool reduced from the existing 45 million to 29 million people, or 36 percent, by 2050.

"Even if the number of employed women would somehow equal that of men and the retirement age is prolonged to 70 years, this would only give additional 4.4 million workers. Further digitalization and robotization of production processes could decrease this shortage, however," according to rt.

By 2013, almost 429,000 immigrants entered the country. In 2014, up to 470,000 people arrived, according to Germany's Destatis, or the Federal Statistics Office.

Just about 25,000 out of a total of 140,000 non-EU immigrants who came to Germany in 2013 are seeking jobs, while most are struggling to study or just to join their families, according to the study. The others entered as refugees.

According to another study from Institut fuer Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), these levels of immigration are "sufficient to keep the labor force army stable in the coming ten years." However, this is not expected to be the case with the retirement of the strong baby-boomers. Therefore, after 2026, some 600,000 immigrants a year will have to move into Germany to keep its system stable, according to wbponline.

The study also shows that the economies of Southern Europe have started to leave the crisis, hence they require more workers at home, even as those who are unemployed are happy to become busy in Germany.

"Germany can't rely on further high immigration from the EU. We must take the measures now that make Germany an attractive destination for non-EU citizens," said Bertelsmann Institute board member Jörg Dräger, as quoted by the Local.

Most of the future EU migrants into Germany will be 70,000 per year, so the workers here will have to be brought in from outside the EU, according to the study.

Due to the unstable conditions in the Middle East, there could be many immigrants into Europe, with Germany as EU's strongest economy.

Dräger believes that Germany needs a new policy of immigration that would be able to invite qualified foreigners from outside the EU. It would require a change in the immigration law in order to open access to citizenship, so that naturalization programs can be attractive, the local language can be learnt along with the social security system and there can be protection for immigrants.

Meanwhile, there are many supporters of the PEGIDA (Patriot Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) movement in Germany who are conducting mass drives opposing 'Islamization' of Germany. It looks at Islamisation as dangerous and instead wants Germany's Judeo-Christian religious culture to be saved.