People in the UK believe that immigration is a more pressing concern than people in Germany.
Forty per cent of the British public view immigration as the most pressing issue facing the country. In Germany, this was just over 20%, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos Mori.
While just 25% of Britons think that the UK government is doing a good job on immigration, in Germany 54% believe their government is managing well.
Germany has accepted more immigrants and asylum seekers than any other European country.
Analysts say that some ten years ago, the British and German attitudes were similarly negative, but in that time more people in Germany have come to view in a more positive way.
One reason for the change could be the economic benefit the country has experienced from its immigrants.
Germany’s chronic low birth rate has only just begun to turn around, due to increased immigration from other parts of Europe.
The proportion of Germans who think migration is necessary for the country’s labour market went from 27% in 2004 to 53% ten years later. This view was held across generations, while Britain has a generation divide between those born between 1980 and 2000 who were most positive and those from the baby boomer era who were more negative.
Germany was the main destination in Europe for immigrants in 2012 (592,200), followed by the UK (498,000), Italy (350,800) and France (327,400). Globally, Germany is also the prime destination for asylum seekers.
Turks comprised the largest foreign-born group in Germany in 2013 (1.5m), followed by Asians, non-EU Europeans (including Russians and Bosnians), and immigrants from Poland and Italy.
“The German government has also had a particularly active focus on integration that could have made a difference to the often negative image we see of immigration in the UK”, said Bobby Duffy, managing director at Ipsos Mori.
“But we know numbers still matter. As net migration increases significantly, Germany will need to be mindful of the British experience – even the best laid integration plans will come under pressure if the pace of change is just too fast.”
