Germans Most Eager to Emigrate to Switzerland, Survey Finds

When asked, “Assuming you were completely independent professionally, privately and financially, could you imagine leaving Germany and emigrating abroad?” 31% of respondents answered “definitely” and 27% said “probably.”

Some 22% would “probably” not emigrate and 15% said “definitely not,” according to the YouGov survey.

The proportion of those willing to emigrate is particularly high among voters of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 55% saying they would emigrate “definitely” and 24% saying “probably.”

The far-right party AfD is particularly strong in the former East Germany, where many struggled amid a difficult transition from a communist planned economy to the Western-style free market after reunification in 1990.

The party gained significant momentum in 2015, when hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers entered Germany.

In Germany, the underlying tide of discontent seems to be growing at present: of those who could imagine emigrating abroad in principle or possibly, 36% have thought more seriously about leaving Germany in recent months.

Of that 36%, 61% point to the migration situation in Germany as one of the reasons for their desire to emigrate.

Meanwhile 41% cite the economic recession in Germany and 29% say their discontent is due to the rise of the AfD.

Global politics are also weighing on Germans. As Moscow’s war on Ukraine rages on, the military threat posed by Russia plays a role for 22%. And potentially losing the US as Europe’s protective power due to US President Donald Trump’s presidency plays a role for 12%.

Among the places people dream about living, Switzerland is particularly popular.

The list of places people would potentially prefer living is topped with Switzerland and Austria (30% and 23%), followed by Spain and Canada (22% and 17%).

“These countries have been at the top of the list of emigration destinations since the 1990s, along with the US and Australia,” says Simone Blaschka, migration historian and director of the German Emigration Centre in Bremerhaven.

The fact that German is also spoken in Switzerland and Austria and that the political conditions are comparable certainly plays a role in people’s preferences, she says.

Switzerland is particularly popular among AfD voters and also fans of the pro-business FDP.

One German who has happily settled in the neighbouring Alpine nation is sociologist Oliver Nachtwey, where he teaches at the University of Basel.

“Switzerland is relatively conservative, but not much more conservative than Germany. And above all, it is a country where a much higher percentage of the population are migrants. A good 40% of the resident population has a migrant background and around one in four is a foreigner,” he says.

So for those seeking to leave Germany as they are bothered by the large number of migrants, Switzerland is not necessarily a logical destination, he says. “When it comes to migration, Switzerland is much more diverse.”

Nachtwey says he thinks that those who want to leave for Switzerland are in fact looking for something else, namely the Germany of the 1980s and 1990s, when the nation’s infrastructure was still in good shape and politics was still reasonably stable – at least when viewed through the lense of nostalgia.

In terms of infrastructure, Switzerland is indeed miles ahead of its German neighbour, says Nachtwey, citing trains as an example.

“Here, the question is whether the train is three or four minutes late, not whether it will arrive at all,” he says.

Germany’s state-owned rail service, Deutsche Bahn, recently made headlines when Swiss regulators intervened concerning two connections as they were unfailingly late.

“Here, bridges are not closed for years on end … That’s why I believe that this desire to emigrate is also driven by a longing for a perceived lost normality,” Nachtwey says.

Many clearly doubt Germany is capable of improving the situation by renovating the infrastructure and revitalizing the economy. “The response to this perceived collective failure is then individual exit,” says Nachtwey.

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Historically speaking, economic problems such as the recession seen in the last two years have always been the main motive for emigration, says historian Blaschka.

However, before this really takes on significant momentum, things have to go really badly for several years in a row – only then do large numbers of people react by emigrating. “You watch the decline unfold for quite some time – as is happening now with the automotive industry – and then at some point you come to the conclusion that this is no longer acceptable to you, that you have no future here.”

Historically speaking, dissatisfaction with political developments has been a much less common motive. “In the 1920s, however, right-wing conservative military personnel also emigrated to South America because they did not like Germany’s turn towards democracy,” says Blaschka.

By Christoph Driessen, dpa