Barometer

The SVR’s Integration Barometer 2024 maps the integration climate in the immigration society and collects assessments and attitudes on integration and migration-specific topics. The fifth nationwide survey with over 15,000 respondents is representative of the population with and without a migration background at both federal and Laender (federal state) level, as well as for the various groups of origin at federal level.

Integration Barometer | Integration Climate 2024:
Slight Weakening of the Positive Trend

Following a high in the last survey, the integration climate has deteriorated again slightly. Although the SVR’s Integration Climate Index reached 66.3 points on a scale of 0 to 100 points, the same value as in the survey four years ago, it is 2.2 points lower than in the 2021/22 survey. The reason for this development is that people without a migration background are more sceptical about the integration climate than in the last survey: in this group, the Index has fallen by 3.2 points to 64.9 points. For people with a migration background, on the other hand, the Index is almost unchanged at 70.3 points.

The Integration Climate Index records the perception of living together in social diversity in four social sub-areas: labour market, neighbourhood, social relations and education system. It is therefore also possible to examine whether the assessment of the integration climate differs between the individual sub-areas and in which direction their perception has developed over time.

In the current survey, people with and without a migration background rate the integration climate more negatively in the education sector than in the other areas, with values of 63.6 and 55.1 points respectively. However, while the assessment of people with a migrant background has remained unchanged compared to the last survey, there is a negative trend among people without a migrant background, despite their own experiences with diversity of origin remaining predominantly positive. For example, 80.3 per cent of people without a migration background and 93.2 per cent of those with a migration background continue to state that they have had positive experiences with each other in the education system. The perception of the area of neighbourhood has deteriorated to a similar extent among respondents without a migration background; it now stands at 61.7 points (-4.7 points). The integration climate on the labour market and especially in social relationships, on the other hand, continues to be perceived much more positively.

Previous evaluations have already shown that both respondents with and without a history of migration were sceptical about the educational system’s ability to integrate and about equal opportunities in the awarding of grades. In addition, respondents in the education sector were less open to ethnic heterogeneity than in other areas. For example, they were more willing to work in ethnically diverse companies or move into a mixed neighbourhood than to enrol their own child at a school with a heterogeneous student body.

These findings are also confirmed in the current edition of the SVR’s Integration Barometer. There is a negative trend among people without a migration background: they now rate the education sector 5.4 points more negatively than in the last survey. Regarding the performance of the school system under conditions of social diversity, the population has different opinions. A slight majority of respondents with and without a migration background expect a heterogeneous student body to have a negative impact on learning success (50.8 % and 55.1 % respectively). In addition, the proportion of the population who would enrol their own child at a heterogeneous school is falling.

As in the 2017/18 survey, the SVR’s Integration Barometer 2024 also surveyed attitudes towards refugees. A comparison over time shows that attitudes towards refugees have not changed fundamentally. However, it can be stated, that respondents are now more sceptical about the expected economic contribution that refugees will be able to make in the future. There is also growing concern that refugees could have a negative impact on prosperity in Germany. People without a migration background, ethnic German resettlers and people of Turkish descent now increasingly share this view (+10.4; +4.4 and +3.5 percentage points respectively). As a result, around one in three people now initially perceive refugees as a threat to prosperity, which means that the assessments of people with and without a migration background have converged (36.8 % and 38.5 % respectively). At the same time, more than six out of ten respondents continue to expect a positive economic contribution from the refugees in the long term – here too, however, there is a slight decrease in the figures.

In contrast, openness towards cultural diversity has also grown. Only around a quarter of respondents with and without a migration background expect refugees to give up their cultural way of life if they live in Germany for longer (26.0 % and 23.4 % respectively). At the same time, fewer people without a migration background expect refugees to enrich Germany culturally in the long run. Regarding the effects of refugee migration on crime, the population remains divided; there are some clear differences between the individual groups of origin.

In the vignette study conducted, respondents continue to show a great willingness to grant asylum to individuals seeking protection, particularly if they are fleeing political persecution or war. However, this willingness is significantly reduced if potential asylum seekers are fleeing poverty or only have a low level of education.

A total of 15,020 people were interviewed for the study between the end of November 2023 and the beginning of July 2024. Of these, 8,001 were people without a migration background, 1,092 ethnic German resettlers, 1,003 people of Turkish descent, 1,730 immigrants from EU countries and 3,194 people from the “rest of the world”. To reach a sufficient sample size at the federal state level, the SVR surveyed at least 500 people without a migration background and a further 500 with a migration background in each federal state. Due to the lower proportion of the total population in the eastern German states, only 300 people with a migration background were interviewed in addition to 500 respondents without a migration background.

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