German immigration on the rise

For the first time in a decade, Germany has seen an increase in immigration into the country, according to numbers published by the national statistics office.

At the end of 2010, approximately 6.75 million foreign nationals were registered in Germany, bringing the immigrant population of Germany to just over 8 percent. This was a rise of 58,000 over the previous year.

More than a third of foreign nationals residing in Germany are from other European Union member states.

The largest group consisted of 21,600 Romanians, followed by large numbers of Polish and Bulgarian nationals.

In recent years Germany has had quite tough immigration controls. However, this may have to change in future; Due to an aging population there are fewer people in the workforce.

Germany may need to open its doors to skilled migrants to deal with skills gaps in the workforce.