In 2023, around 1.93 million people immigrated to Germany. Numbers fluctuated during the time period covered in the graph at hand, peaking in 2015 during the high point of Europe’s refugee crisis. Significantly lower figures in 2020 may be attributed to the first year of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and subsequent restrictions implemented by the German government on entering the country, in order to control the spread of the disease. Immigration to Germany “Immigrant” is a term used from the point of view of the receiving country, or the country being migrated to by a person. While reasons for and circumstances leading to an immigrant entering a foreign country may vary, they often include love, include seeking residence, employment, family reunions, or applying for asylum. Various countries are represented among foreigners living in Germany, though currently the leading three by numbers are Turkey, Ukraine, and Syria. Around 5.2 million immigrants living in Germany do not need a residence permit due to having EU citizenship, and therefore being allowed freedom of movement based on EU law. Another 2.64 million immigrants were granted an unlimited permit to stay in Germany. The near future Germany remains a popular choice for immigrants, even in currently challenging economic and political times. Welfare benefits, healthcare, and various support initiatives for those moving to or arriving in the country are on the list of selling points, though in practice, difficulties may be encountered depending on individual situations and laws in different German federal states. While the unemployment rate among foreigners living in Germany had gone up in 2020, it dropped again in the following years, but increased once more in 2023 and 2024 to over 16 percent. The country is Europe’s largest economy, housing many global players in various industries, which continues to attract jobseekers, despite these very industries facing struggles of their own brought on both by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and geopolitical events in Europe.

Most people in the fiscal year of 2022 who obtained green cards in the United States came from Mexico, with a total of 138,772 green card recipients. India, China, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba rounded out the top five leading countries of origin for green card recipients in that year.

In 2024, the net migration rate in France reached 152,000. In recent years Europe and France have seen more people arrive than depart. The net migration rate is the difference between the number of immigrants (people coming into an area) and the number of emigrants (people leaving an area) throughout the year. France's highest net migration rate was reached in 2018 when it amounted to 201,000. Armed conflicts and economic migration are some of the reasons for immigration in Europe. The refugee crisis Studies have shown that there were 331,000 immigrant arrivals in France in 2022, which has risen since 2014. The migrant crisis, which began in 2015 in Europe, had an impact on the migration entry flows not only in France but in all European countries. The number of illegal border crossings to the EU over the Eastern Mediterranean route reached a record number of 885,386 crossings in 2015. Immigration in France Since the middle of the 19th century, France has attracted immigrants, first from European countries (like Poland, Spain, and Italy), and then from the former French colonies. In 2023, there were approximately 8.9 million people foreign-born in France. Most of them were living in the Ile-de-France region, which contains Paris, and in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in the Southeastern part of the country. In 2022, the majority of immigrants arriving in France were from Africa and Europe.

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuous programme of cross-national collaboration running annual surveys on topics important for the social sciences. The programme started in 1984 with four founding members - Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States – and has now grown to almost 50 member countries from all over the world. As the surveys are designed for replication, they can be used for both, cross-national and cross-time comparisons. Each ISSP module focuses on a specific topic, which is repeated in regular time intervals. Please, consult the documentation for details on how the national ISSP surveys are fielded. The present study focuses on questions about national consciousness and national identity.
The release of the cumulated ISSP ´National Identity´ modules for the years 1995, 2003 and 2013 consists of two separate datasets: ZA5960 and ZA5961. This documentation deals with the main dataset ZA5960. It contains all the cumulated variables, while the supplementary data file ZA5961 contains those variables that could not be cumulated for various reasons. However, they can be matched easily to the cumulated file if necessary. A comprehensive overview on the contents, the structure and basic coding rules of both data files can be found in the following guide:

Guide for the ISSP ´National Identity´ cumulation of the years 1995, 2003, and 2013

National Identity I-III:

Identification with the town/ the city, the region (county), the country, and with the respective continent; important characteristics for national identity (to be born in the country, to have citizenship of the country, living most time of life in the country, to be able to speak country language, to be a (dominant religion in the country, to respect (country nationality) politicial institutions and laws, to feel country nationality, to have country nationality ancestry); agreement with different statements (I would rather be a citizen of (country) than of any other country in the world, things about country feel ashamed, the world would be a better place if people were more like the (country nationality), (country) is a better country than most other countries, people should support their country even if the country is in the wrong, when my country does well in international sports, it makes me proud to be (country nationality), often less proud of (country) than I would like to be); proud of: the way democracy works in the country, its political influence in the world, the country´s economic achievements, its social security system, its scientific and technological achievements, its achievements in sports, the achievements in the arts and literature, country´s armed forces, its history, and fair treatment of all groups in society; attitude towards the relations between one´s country and other countries (country should limit the import of foreign products in order to protect the national economy, international bodies should enforce solutions for certain problems like environment pollution, enforcing national interests regardless of evoking conflicts with other countries, rejection of the acquisition of land by foreigners, television should prefer national films and programs); large international companies damage local businesses; free trade leads to better products in the country; country should follow decisions of international organisations; international organisations are taking too much power from the government; attitude towards minorities in respondent´s country (without shared customs no full membership, ethnic minorities should be given government assistance to preserve their customs and traditions, better for a society if groups maintain their traditions vs. adapt in the larger society); attitude towards immigrants (immigrants increase crime rates, immigrants are generally good for country´s economy, immigrants take jobs away from people who were born in the country, immigrants bring new ideas and cultures, legal immigrants should have same rights as (country nationality) citizens, illegal immigrants should be excluded); attitude towards the number of immigrants in the country; national pride; respondents citizenship; citizenship of parents at the time of the respondent´s birth; attitutde towards the European Union (appropriate association for the continent/ subcontinent): how much heard or read about the European Union; country benefits from being member of the European Union; country should follow decisions of the European Union; EU should have more power than national government; decision at EU Referendum to become new member of the EU (for prospective members only); decision at EU Referendum to remain member of the EU; country should remain one nation vs. parts of the country should be allowed to become fully separate nations if they choose to; self-assessed affiliation of ethnic group.

Demography: sex; age; education: years of schooling; highest completed education level...

The first International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) survey by COMPASS Research Centre at the University of Auckland, with funding support from its Business School. Three years after Professor Philip Gendall retired from contributing to the international programme, COMPASS worked to carry on this fine tradition, branding it locally as the Social Attitudes Survey New Zealand.Questions on national consciousness and national identity. Identification with town/city and nation; most important characteristics for national identity; perceived pride in the democracy of the country, the political influence of the country in the world, the economic achievement, the social security system, the scientific achievements, the achievements in sports, the achievements in arts or literature, the armed forces, the history and equal rights of all social groups in society.Attitude to the right of international institutions to enforce solutions to be accepted nationally; attitude to enforcing national interests regardless of evoking conflicts with other countries; rejection of acquisition of land by foreigners in the country; preference for national films in national television stations; damage done by large international companies to the local business; attitude to free trade; attitude to follow the decisions of international organisations even if the local government does not agree with them; international organisations take away too much power from the country. Availability of worldwide information as a benefit of the internet; importance of sharing national customs and traditions to achieve full nationality; attitude to government support of national minorities to preserve their customs and habits; preference for assimilation of minorities or retention of their identity; hostility to foreigners and prejudices against immigrants (scale); attitude to a reduction of immigration of foreigners; respondent’s citizenship; citizenship of parents at birth of respondent; same rights for citizens and legal immigrants; attitude towards stronger measures regarding illegal immigrants. Attitudes towards ethnic diversity in the workplace. Demography: Sex; age; marital status; steady life-partner; years in school, current employment status; current employment status of spouse; hours worked weekly; occupation of respondent and spouse; respondent and spouse working for private, public sector or self-employed; supervisor function; union membership; household size; family income; respondent’s earnings; vote last election; religious denomination; frequency of church attendance; region; town size, rural or urban region; ethnicity. Additionally encoded: mode of data collection.

Close to 6.4 thousand illegal workers from other countries were detected in Japan in 2022.The number decreased compared to the previous year, when approximately 13 thousand cases of illegal foreign workers were documented.