Afghans in Germany


Afghans in Germany are German citizens with Afghan ancestry, and non-citizen residents born in—or with ancestors from—Afghanistan. In 2022 the Federal Statistical Office of Germany estimated the number of people of Afghan descent residing in Germany at 425,000 the third largest from outside the EU, and the largest group from Asia excluding the Middle East and Caucusus. In particular, there are over 50,000 Afghans in Hamburg alone, comprising about 2,7% of the city's population. Offenbach am Main and Hamburg had the highest shares of Afghan migrants among all German districts in 2011.

History

In the 1970s, about 2,000 Afghans resided in West Germany, most were businessmen and students. The trade city of Hamburg particularly attracted Afghan carpet traders who would sell Afghan carpets. With the onset of the Soviet-Afghan War in Afghanistan, many fled to West Germany and the population grew to about 11,000 by 1982. Another wave started in the 1990s and the Afghan population reached about 50,000 by 1994.
Germany forms one of the biggest Afghan diaspora communities in the world. It was estimated that the population numbered around 70,000 as of 2001.
Following the European migrant crisis, the community rapidly expanded, numbering 253,000 in 2016, up from 75,000 in 2014. Afghanistan was one of the main sources of migration to the region, while Germany was the most prominent destination.
In late December 2016, Germany decided to repatriate 11,900 Afghans back to their home country, what is known as Second collective deportation.
Thousands of Afghans came to Germany following the withdrawal of German training forces in Afghanistan in 2021. They are mostly people who worked with the German army or German aid agencies in Afghanistan.
Two days after the 2025 German federal election an Air charter from Pakistan landed in Berlin, bringing 155 Afghans to Germany under various programs, initiated by the ousted Scholz cabinet. Five of the individuals had actually worked for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan, the rest were family members and other people deemed to be in danger under the Taliban regime. The arrival was met with criticism and Alexander Throm of the election-winning party CDU suspected a plan by parting foreign minister Annalena Baerbock to bring as many Afghans as possible to Germany, before losing the power to do so. Another 3000 Afghans, who already had clearance to come to Germany, given by the parting government, were stuck in Pakistan as of early 2025. An attempt by the CDU to find out who the roughly 100 NGO´s were, who did choose the majority of the Afghans destined to come to Germany using the so called "Bundesaufnahmeprogramm für besonders gefährdete Menschen aus Afghanistan" was thwarted by the Scholz-administration by declaring the list of NGO´s Classified information. A third flight landed in Hannover on 27 March 2025 with another 200 Afghans, the former administration had deemed as vunerable.
The government suspended the distribution of new visa for Afghans in Pakistan after the new administration took over in May 2025. In June 2025 activists of the NGO "Kabul Luftbrücke" called the court Verwaltungsgericht Berlin to force the government to bring the remaining estimated 2400 Afghans, who already had an Federal Foreign Office acceptance letter, from Pakistan to Germany. A Berlin administrative court decided in July 2025, that an Afghan woman and 13 of her relatives, currently in Pakistan, have to be given Visa to come to Germany, after having been given invitations by the last administration in October 2023.
A group of 47 Afghans, who all had enforced access to Germany through legal proceedings, were taken from Islamabad to Hannover on 1 September 2025. 2 got lost during a stop in Istanbul, the other 45 arrived in Hannover. At the same time, 210 Afghans, who had been deported from Pakistan to Afghanistan despite having German acceptance letters, and were at the time housed with GiZ funding in Kabul, wrote an open letter to the German chancellor demanding immediate transport to Germany.
YearAfghan citizens in Germany
2015131.455
2016253.485
2017251.640
2018257.110
2019263.420
2020271.805
2021309.820
2022377.240
2023 395.000

Demography

Under the definitions of the German Federal Statistics Office, Afghan citizens who choose to obtain German citizenship will have their "statistical" migration background gone, meaning second or third generation immigrants are not put under the definition. Of the approximately 156,000 Germans of Afghan descent, around 25,000 had a German or some other non-Afghan passport.
As of 2024, there are 442,020 Afghan citizens residing in Germany.

Age and gender

Historically most Afghans came to Germany as families. From 2012 there was a rising number of Afghan asylum seekers and a shifting trend to individual arrivals of Afghan men, rather than whole families. The migrants in the 2010s period were predominantly male, significantly shifting the gender balance. As of 2015, 44,778 of 25 to 35 year old Afghans in Germany were women. The male-female ratio is somewhat balanced for adults over 35 and children under 15, but in those between 15 and 35 there is a huge male surplus.

Distribution

In 2008 Hamburg had the highest Afghan diasporic population of any city in the continent, with 7,000 German citizens of Afghan origin and 14,000 other residents of Afghan origin. Immigration began with the start of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979 and additional immigration came after its end. Due to the differing origins and political affiliations of the émigrés, et al. wrote in Der Spiegel that "Hamburg's Afghan community was relatively loose-knit and was rarely perceived as an ethnic group, partly because these immigrants had been so deeply divided at home that there was little left to unite them as a community abroad." Therefore, the residents focused internally on their own families and keeping them together.
The large Afghan community in Hamburg make the city feel like home to many German Afghans, despite the low-lying port city contrasting to the mountainous and landlocked Afghanistan.
The single state with the most Afghan citizens as of 2017 was Bavaria followed by Hesse and North Rhine Westphalia. The community predominantly resides in territory belonging to the former West Germany. While Hamburg continues to have the highest concentration of Afghans, the population is now more spread out in the country than before, and by 2015 all states in former East Germany had numbers in the thousands.
StatePopulation
Baden-Württemberg9,995
Bavaria21,891
Berlin8,138
Brandenburg2,868
Bremen1,018
Hamburg14,468
Hesse19,171
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania2,232
Lower Saxony9,085
North Rhine-Westphalia18,954
Rhineland Palatinate5,126
Saarland1,147
Saxony6,123
Saxony Anhalt2,242
Schleswig-Holstein5,967
Thuringia3,029

Employment

Of the 1,256 Afghan students enrolled at universities in the 2015/2016 period, the majority enrolled in engineering programmes and a large number also enrolled in law. This was followed by smaller numbers in sciences, humanities and health, and even smaller in agricultural, sport and art programmes.

Religion

Most Germans with Afghan heritage are Muslims. There is also a small population of Afghan Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jews and nonreligious in Germany. There are 24 Afghan cultural and religious associations in Germany, most being Islamic, four Hindu, and one Sikh.

Community and social issues

Many of the early Afghan migrants were well-educated and professionally trained in Afghanistan, however they found difficulties finding work in their professional fields. Over years the backgrounds of the migrants have become more diverse, and the more recent ones tend to be less educated or professionally trained by comparison.
Some Afghans in Germany feel their representation in society is limited, despite it being one of the country's largest immigrant groups.
Associations include the Afghan-German Association for Education, Health and Crafts founded in 2002, the Afghanistan Information Center founded in 1993, and the Afghan Women's Association founded in 1992. About 130 association with clear connections to Afghanistan have been identified in Germany as of 2017. These comprise groups mainly related to politics and integration, education and social affairs, culture, religion and health.
From 1998 to 2011 the privately owned Afghan Museum operated in Hamburg's Speicherstadt district.
In 2016 there were 157 underage individuals of Afghan origin in child marriages according to the interior ministry.

Notable people