Migration background
In the Germanosphere, migration background is a term used to describe people on the basis of identity and ancestry. Migration background is a variably defined socio-demographic characteristic that describes persons who themselves or whose ancestors immigrated from one country to another or whose ancestors did not have the nationality of the destination country.
The term was first used in 1998 by sociologist in the 10th. It is used as a concept primarily in German-speaking countries. The definitions are usually linked to nationality or place of birth. In Germany, people who were not born with German citizenship themselves or whose father or mother were not born with German citizenship are considered to have a migration background. In Austria, it refers to people whose parents were both born abroad; depending on their place of birth, a distinction is also made between first and second generation migrants. In Switzerland the Federal Statistical Office defines the term relatively independently of nationality.
In 2007, the German Federal Statistical Office started publishing data regarding "the population with a migration background". In 2019, according to the official definition, 21.2million people with a migration background lived in Germany, which corresponds to a population share of around 26%.
Germany
Conceptual history
The term Migrationshintergrund is a neologism that was first used by the Essen education professor in the 1990s. The term is derived from the English term "migration background" and was translated by Boos-Nünning. The term was brought about as a reaction to changing demographics: with naturalized people, and children of foreigners born in Germany who, under certain conditions, had German citizenship following a legal reform, more than 7 million people lived in Germany at the beginning of the 21st century and their migration experiences should be taken into account. The previously used criterion of citizenship or statelessness was too short to describe the social integration processes of naturalized immigrants of the first generation and their descendants, so the new criterion was also used.When defining the term for the 2005 microcensus, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany claimed that the term had been "common in science and politics for a long time". It was being used "increasingly frequently, despite its awkwardness". It expressed "that those affected should not only include the immigrants themselves – i.e. the actual migrants – but also certain of their descendants born in Germany". The office admitted, however, that it was difficult to use the term "people with a migration background" in a clear-cut manner. For example, the term appeared in 1998 in the tenth report on children and young people by the German Youth Institute, and in the PISA study of 2003. In 2005, the term was officially included as an ordering criterion in the official statistics of the, which, according to migration researcher, had been "demanded by experts for years".
Definition
Definition of the Federal Statistical Office 2005
Since the 2005, the state statistical offices and the Federal Statistical Office have distinguished between the population with a migration background and the population without a migration background. This distinction is made by indirectly determining data on migration background. The basis for this is an amendment to the Microcensus Act of 2004, which provides for the inclusion of questions to determine migration background in the surveys from 2005 to 2012. Specifically, information is requested on immigration, nationality and immigration of the respective respondent and their parents. People with a migration background are defined as "all those who immigrated to the current territory of the Federal Republic of Germany after 1949, as well as all foreigners born in Germany and all those born in Germany as Germans with at least one parent who immigrated after 1949 or was born in Germany as a foreigner". The definition of people with a migration background in the narrower sense, which is also used for the purpose of comparability over time, is the same, except that this definition does not include German immigrant children who are born and no longer live with their parents or one parent.File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F079036-0016, Lager Friedland, Familie aus Kasachstan.jpg|thumb|246x246px|This family from Kazakhstan moved to Germany in the late 1980s. They are considered Aussiedler, meaning they are immigrants of German ancestry. Many "re-settlers" moved to Germany from the Eastern Bloc in the period.
By definition, and their children are also considered to be people with a migration background. These people don't necessarily need to have any migration experience of their own. In Germany, migration experience of one parent is sufficient to be classified as a person with a migration background, while in Austria, for example, migration experience of both parents is required. An estimated 2.45 million people with a migration background lived in Austria in 2023.
One-third of people with a migration background have lived in Germany since birth. In 2023, roughly 58.97 million Germans did not have a migration background.
According to this definition, in 2006, 15.3million people with a migration background lived in Germany, corresponding to 18.6% of the population. In 2009, the number of people with a migration background in Germany rose to 16 million, or 19.6% of the population. This growth is due to the increase in the number of German citizens with a migration background, as the number of foreigners in Germany has stagnated at 7.2 million for around ten years.
At 10.4 million, those who have immigrated since 1950 – the population with their own personal experience of migration – make up two thirds of all people with a migration background. In 2006, 7.3million or 8.9% of the population or 47% of people with a migration background had foreign nationality. People with a migration background and comprised 7.9million or 9.5% of the population or 53% of people with a migration background in 2006. People with a migration background are on average significantly younger than those without a migration background. They are more strongly represented in the younger age cohorts than in the older ones. Among children under five, people with a migration background made up a third of this population group in 2008.
The 2011 European Union census was based on a slightly different definition of migration background. The question was not about immigration after 1949, but after 1955.
Change in 2016
In 2016, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany changed the definition as part of a "typification of migration background" so that it is now "easier to understand". It now reads: "A person has a migration background if they themselves or at least one parent was not born with German citizenship. In detail, this definition includes immigrant and non-immigrant foreigners, immigrant and non-immigrant naturalised citizens, repatriates and the descendants of these groups who were born as Germans."To explain why the old definition was inadequate, the Federal Statistical Office explains: "There is also a small group of people who were born abroad with German citizenship and whose parents do not have a migration background. In the 2015 microcensus, this affects an estimated 25,000 people. These people were born while their parents were abroad, e.g. while studying abroad or working abroad. But these people born abroad do not have a migration background because they themselves and their parents were born with German citizenship. Children of parents without a migration background cannot have a migration background".
According to the new definition, the migration background no longer depends on the time of a person's immigration to the territory of Germany. Nevertheless, the Federal Statistical Office restricts this: "The displaced persons of the Second World War and their descendants do not belong to the population with a migration background, since they and their parents were born with German citizenship". The fact that people such as Sudeten Germans or were usually actually born without German citizenship is apparently not taken into account in this definition.
The new definition is first found in a statement issued in September 2016 entitled "Population with a migration background at record levels", while the old definition is still used in the 2016 Statistical Yearbook.
Further definitions
According to Article 3 of the Basic Law and the , it is forbidden to attach legal consequences to a person's "ethnic origin". No one may be discriminated against or given preferential treatment because they or their ancestors immigrated to Germany.Two years after the entry into force of the Integration and Participation Act in Berlin, which provides for the recording of the proportion of people with a migration background in various social groups, the Berlin Senate announced in 2012 in response to a parliamentary question that correct measurements in the public service or among politicians would require surveys that are not legally permissible. Therefore, the state of Berlin finally revised the legislation and on 17 June 2021 the House of Representatives passed the Act on the New Regulation of Participation in the State of Berlin, which came into force on 16 July 2021. Article 1 of the Act contains the Act to Promote Participation in the Migration Society of the State of Berlin, which replaces the previous Integration and Participation Act and specifies how the migration background should be recorded. Paragraph 3, paragraph 2 PartMiG states: "A person has a migration background if they themselves or at least one of their parents does not have German citizenship by birth." Paragraph 8, in turn, regulates how this migration background is to be recorded: "The public bodies pursuant to paragraph 4, paragraph 1 shall, after obtaining written consent from applicants and employees, determine whether they are persons with a migration background. The data is collected for the purpose of implementing measures pursuant to this section and for statistical purposes. Discrimination based on information or lack of information on migration background is prohibited. Consent can be revoked at any time without giving reasons to the body collecting the consent. In the event of revocation, the data must be deleted immediately and confirmation of the revocation must be sent to the person revoking the consent." On this basis, according to paragraph 9, paragraph 1, for "each salary, remuneration and pay group as well as each superior and management level... it must be determined whether persons with a migration background are employed in proportion to their share of the Berlin population. The number of trainees and civil servant candidates, broken down by whether they have a migration background or not, by career or professional field and by training occupation, must be presented".
At the same time, due to criticism of the concept of migration background, the new Section 3 Paragraph 1 of the PartMiG introduced the new category of "person with a migration history", which covers a much wider group of people. In addition to people with a migration background, this category also includes "people who are racially discriminated against and people who are generally attributed a migration background. This attribution can be linked in particular to phenotypic characteristics, language, name, origin, nationality and religion". Legal consequences are linked to this definition, as Section 19 Paragraph 2 stipulates for the District Advisory Council for Participation and Integration'' to be formed in each Berlin district: "The District Advisory Council consists of representatives of people with a migration history as well as representatives who can contribute to the work of the District Advisory Council due to their knowledge of issues of participation, integration and equal participation of people with a migration history. The representatives of people with a migration history should form the majority".