First time in over 30 years: More Poles returning to Poland from Germany than migrating the other way
08/21/2025 / By Laura Harris
- For the first time in over 30 years, more Poles are moving back to Poland from Germany than migrating the other way, with 2024 recording a net decrease of 11,239 Polish migrants in Germany.
- Strong economic growth (around five percent annually since 2015), lower taxes and more efficient administration have made Poland increasingly attractive compared to Germany’s stagnant performance.
- Experts like Nils Witte see the shift as a natural outcome of EU integration, where economies are expected to gradually align, reducing the incentive to migrate westward.
- Personal stories highlight dissatisfaction with Germany’s outdated systems, such as poor housing management, credit inaccessibility and excessive bureaucracy, prompting many to leave.
- Some former migrants now describe Germany as a “failed state of everyday life,” while viewing Poland as a place of modernization and opportunity, reversing long-standing assumptions about East-West migration.
A recent report has revealed that for the first time in more than three decades, more Poles are returning to their homeland from Germany than the other way around.
Brighteon.AI’s Enoch says Germany has seen a steady rise in Polish immigration since the early 1980s. Apart from a brief lull in the mid-1990s, tens of thousands more people moved from Poland to Germany each year than the other way around due to economic opportunity and historical ties. But now, that trend has flipped. (Related: Report: Almost half of welfare recipients in Germany are MIGRANTS.)
According to the Federal Statistical Office, the migration balance for 2024 shows a net decrease of 11,239. Meaning, more people left Germany for Poland than arrived from it. Since 2015, Poland has regularly posted annual GDP growth around five percent, while Germany’s most successful recent year saw just 2.7 percent growth and that was back in 2017.
Nils Witte of the Federal Institute for Population Research does not view this shift as a statistical anomaly, but rather as a logical outcome of Poland’s development. The rapidly growing economy, lower taxes and more efficient public administration of Poland are beginning to outshine the traditionally strong appeal of Germany.
“This is also something that is actually desired in the European Union, that the markets gradually become adjusted. And that’s exactly what happens,” said Witte. He pointed out that the number of people moving from Germany to Poland has remained stable. However, he also revealed that “what’s changed is that fewer Poles are choosing to come to Germany.”
Poles now call Germany “a failed state of everyday life”
The data is supported by personal accounts, as the German news outlet Tagesschau features various perspectives from Poles living in the country.
For instance, Zbyszek Perzyna and his wife Gierko, two self-employed Poles living in Germany, said a long list of frustrations has finally convinced them to move home. Among the issues: they haven’t had cold water in their apartment for more than a decade, relying instead on a workaround using a custom hose system. “It’s a lot of little things – all together: one big problem,” said Perzyna. Despite being financially stable and tax-compliant, the couple said the bureaucracy of Germany has made daily life unnecessarily difficult. While they earn well, getting a mortgage or even leasing a car has been nearly impossible.
They are not alone.
Polish writer and artist Jacek Dehnel, who moved to Berlin in the wake of right-wing political victories in Poland, has also returned home, disillusioned by Germany’s stagnation and inefficiency.
“I have the impression that Germany is a ‘failed state’ in terms of everyday quality of life,” said Dehnel, who is openly gay and married to his partner. He criticized Germany’s analog bureaucracy, lack of digital infrastructure and an uncooperative public sector. “German society is accustomed to being harassed by the state in this way and sees it as normal.”
Dehnel and his husband now see Poland as a land of opportunity, with “constant growth, improvement, modernization, facilitation and optimization of everyday life.”
Head over to BorderSecurity.news for similar stories.
Watch this video of two federal police officers at the German border estimating that around 500,000 soldiers are waiting for the day migrants can come in without any restrictions.
This video is from the Auriga Books channel on Brighteon.com.
More related stories:
Germany and Poland rule out troop deployment to Ukraine.
Germany SUSPENDS Schengen Area access scheme, tightens border security.
Sources include:
Submit a correction >>
Tagged Under:
big government, economics, economy, Germany, Immigration, migrant influx, migrants, Open Borders, Poland, progress, welfare
This article may contain statements that reflect the opinion of the author
RECENT NEWS & ARTICLES
