Barometer

2022 Integration Barometer

The SVR’s Integration Barometer measures the “integration climate” in Germany’s immigration society and captures the population’s perceptions of and attitudes towards integration and migration. This fourth nationwide survey, which had more than 15,000 respondents, is representative of people with and without a migration background at both the national and regional level. At the national level the survey is also representative of various groups of origin.

The integration climate has proved to be extraordinarily stable. A slightly more positive trend can be made out across all groups of origin when findings are compared to those of the previous survey conducted in 2019/20. The Integration Climate Index rose from 66.3 to 68.5 points. The increase over the last two years was especially notable among people without a migration background – it grew by 2.5 points to 68.1. The Integration Climate Index among people with a migration background rose by 1.3 points to a total of 70.1.

The Integration Climate Index reflects the experience and relationships of people with and without a migration background. It covers everyday situations and thus reflects people’s personal perspectives. According to the latest Integration Barometer, more than 90 per cent of those surveyed rate their personal contact with people of diverse backgrounds as extraordinarily positive.

The survey was conducted between November 2021 and July 2022, a period which was marked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This, in turn, led to large movements of Ukrainian refugees to neighbouring countries, including Germany. Nevertheless, there are no indications that the war had any significant impact on the survey results. This fact shows yet again that short-term changes do not have a direct impact on the day-to-day interactions of people living in a diverse society, which is what the Integration Climate Index measures.

Although people in a diverse society regard their personal contacts as enriching, perceived discrimination has a negative impact on how people rate the integration climate. Respondents of Turkish origin are most particularly affected by this, with one in five experiencing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of discrimination. Many people in Germany, regardless of their background, feel there is no equality of treatment at work and in schools. Almost one third of those surveyed feel there are barriers to the equal treatment of people with a migration background within the educational system, and more than half do not believe that people with and without a migration background are treated equally on the job market.

There are differences in how people perceive the integration climate based on social attributes such as age, sex/gender and educational level. Generally speaking, young people, women and people with a high level of education tend to rate the integration climate more positively than older people, men and people with a low level of education do. The gap of perceptions between people without a migration background living in eastern and western Germany has continued to shrink. This is particularly true when it comes to younger people.

The survey conducted for the 2022 Integration Barometer also covered attitudes towards democracy. The findings reveal a broad social consensus: irrespective of their background, nine out of ten respondents regard the basic principles of a democratic system such as the rule of law and protection of minorities as important. However, when it comes to political participation, the Integration Barometer once more indicates that German nationals with a migration background are less likely to vote in elections – even though they do, in principle, agree with people without a migration background about the importance of free and fair elections.

A total of 15,005 people were interviewed for the study conducted in the period between late November 2021 and early July 2022. Of these, 8,005 were people without a migration background, 1,204 were ethnic German resettlers, 980 were people of Turkish descent, and 1,987 were people with a migration background from the EU and 2,829 from the Rest of the World (ROW). In order to be able to say something about attitudes at the regional level, the SVR interviewed at least 500 people without and 500 people with a migration background in each federal state. Owing to the smaller proportion of people with a migration background living in Germany’s eastern federal states (excluding Berlin), only 300 people with a migration background were surveyed in addition to the 500 respondents without a migration background there.

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Integration Barometer | 2022 integration climate: Slightly more positive, with a few exceptions (Summary)

Information about the Annual Report 2022

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