In Hamburg, the city’s rapid demographic shift highlights concerns over Germany’s future, with rising immigration rates leading to the possibility of Germans becoming a minority.
Dirk Nockemann, the AfD group leader in Hamburg’s parliament, warns, “The numbers don’t lie: Germans are becoming a minority in their own country, and in some parts, the Germans are the new minority.” He pointed to new data from the State Statistical Office showing that 40.4% of Hamburg’s population, or 790,000 people, have a migration background. In the Billbrook district, nearly 80% of residents are foreigners, with 98.2% of those under 18 having a migrant background. The city’s schools are now predominantly populated by foreign students, creating challenges like language barriers and poor academic outcomes.
Nockemann attributes these demographic changes to increased social spending and rising violent crime. He also echoed former Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s view that multiculturalism is an “illusion of intellectuals” and called for a “deportation offensive and secure borders.”
Wider Germany is experiencing similar changes, with 26% of the population having a migration background as of 2023. The so-called “Great Replacement,” a theory positing the replacement of native Europeans by non-Europeans, is gaining traction in political circles, with figures like author Michel Houellebecq calling it a “fact.” Immigrants are responsible for disproportionately high crime rates, particularly in violent crimes, though they make up only a small fraction of the population.
In Hamburg alone, the government spent €1 billion in 2023 on housing and caring for migrants, not including schooling or healthcare costs. About 63% of social welfare spending in the city goes to migrants and those with migration backgrounds. This has fueled rising tensions, including protests by radical Islamists, and has strained the city’s resources. Despite these concerns, anti-immigration parties like the AfD and CDU struggle to gain support in Hamburg due to the city’s left-wing culture and large migrant population.
