A refugee from Afghanistan with a banner reading ‘Thankyou Germany’ in Dortmund<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s migration and asylum policies have cost the state at least \u20ac400 billion, according to calculations by Welt journalist Bj\u00f6rn Harms. Other estimates have gone far higher, including into the trillions, when broader follow-on effects of migration are included. These massive figure will only add to the growing debate about mass immigration into high social-welfare countries like Germany.<\/p>\n
As for the data, much of it comes directly from the German government, according to Welt<\/a>. The federal government alone recorded over \u20ac242 billion in \u201crefugee-related expenditures\u201d from 2016 to 2025<\/a>. Official figures from Bundestag reports and the Federal Ministry of Finance confirm the annual totals.<\/p>\n Netherlands spent \u20ac400 billion on migrants between 1995 and 2019, according to new landmark study<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n If this is broken down by year, it shows \u20ac20.1 billion in 2016, rising to peaks of \u20ac28.3 billion in 2022 and \u20ac29.6 billion in 2023, then \u20ac28 billion in 2024 and \u20ac24.8 billion in 2025.<\/p>\n The sum over ten years is \u20ac242.5 billion, representing roughly 5.8 percent of total federal budget outlays over the period. These cover social transfers after asylum procedures, integration measures, payments to states and municipalities, and related programs.<\/p>\n Mass immigration is costing Nordic nations hundreds of billions of euros over decades, according to new data<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The 16 state governments also contributed more than \u20ac100 billion from their own budgets. Municipalities added further billions, along with follow-on costs in healthcare, education, and the justice system. Independent reconstructions place a consolidated central estimate near \u20ac340 billion, while others go up to \u20ac450 billion with add-ons.<\/p>\n However, even these numbers pale in comparison to what some academics have researched. For example, top German academic on public finances Prof. Bernd Raffelh\u00fcschen of the University of Freiburg, produced a study in 2024 that indicated that mass immigration may cost Germany up to \u20ac19.2 trillion<\/a>. His study also found that mass immigration had already cost the country \u20ac5.8 trillion.<\/p>\n Mass immigration to Germany will cost taxpayers up to \u20ac19.2 trillion, warns top academic expert<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Harms and others describe the \u20ac400 billion figure as a minimum. The reason why this figure is treated as a \u201cminimum\u201d is because experts have been unable to truly compile costs for a broad range of areas, which surely total tens of billions over the course of a decade. These areas include court costs and criminal justice.<\/p>\n Germany spends between \u20ac9 billion and \u20ac20 billion a year on criminal justice. As Remix News has reported before, an astronomically disproportionate share of these criminals are foreigners<\/a>, meaning that foreigners are costing Germany billions every year just on criminal justice.<\/p>\n Germany: Cost of housing migrants in Berlin hits nearly \u20ac1 billion in 2024, nearly triples in 4 four years<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Just one example involves the case of Saudi national Taleb A, who plowed his vehicle into a Christmas market in\u00a0Magdeburg<\/a>, Germany, killing six people and injuring over 300. The custom-built court constructed specifically to host the trial of Taleb A. cost \u20ac4.5 million.<\/p>\n This specialized, high-security facility was constructed by the court in Magdeburg to handle the large-scale proceedings, which included accommodations and seating space for more than 170 co-plaintiffs and their respective legal teams.<\/p>\n That is just one migrant.<\/p>\n Taleb al-Abdulmohsen: Saudi doctor who killed 6 at a German Christmas market is one of many foreign doctors who should\u2019ve never received a medical license<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n The billions in criminal justice costs do not even cover police and internal security. Crime has risen in Germany substantially since 2016<\/a>. During that year, according to Eurostat records, Germany had approximately 244,318 total police officers. At the time, that equated to roughly 2,992 officers per one million people, or a density of around 301 per 100,000 inhabitants.<\/p>\n The Federal Police force has grown to around 55,000 to 60,000 total employees (including roughly 41,000 active frontline officers) to manage expanded mandates across national borders, transportation hubs, and airports.<\/p>\n Germany: Foreigners vastly overrepresented in violent crimes in 2025 criminal data, 72% increase in rape since 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Paying all these new police officers, who are tasked with policing an increasingly violent country, is not only an enormous cost in terms of money, but has led to tens of thousands of lives shattered and destroyed. When a young woman is raped <\/a>by a migrant or an aspiring doctor is beaten to the point that he has to abandon his medical career,<\/a> it is difficult to even calculate the true financial cost of such incidents, but in many ways, these incidents have no price tag. They are too horrific to even quantify.<\/p>\n Of course, there are also tens of billions spent on education for migrants<\/a>, which are not included in the \u20ac400 billion total. In addition, Germany has an extensive network of kindergartens, which foreigners also gain access to. In some states like Berlin, the daycare system is entirely supported by taxpayers to the tune of \u20ac2.5 billion a year, while the share of kindergarten-age children with a migration background is at 57.4 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n Europe\u2019s housing crisis is an immigration crisis, as Berlin data confirms<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n There are also deportation costs, administrative overhead, hospital and medical care, and the list goes on.<\/p>\n The real figure may be difficult to calculate with total accuracy, but it is surely larger than \u20ac400 billion.<\/p>\n Germans have also paid in other ways, including in higher rental costs, more traffic, crowded schools, and longer wait times at hospitals. Again, not all of these costs are even quantifiable, but the increase the increase in rental costs alone has cost Germans additional billions.<\/p>\n It is also important to note that there are hundreds of thousands of migrants who are becoming naturalized at a rapid pace and already millions of migrants who have been naturalized in previous decades. These migrants and their children use schools, often require welfare, and also need healthcare. Yet, none of these costs are counted towards the tax burden on Germans. In total, there have been further tens of billions spent on these groups, increasingly in the education system which has the highest share of Germans with a migration background. Many of these groups also continue to be a net economic burden on Germany, such as the Turkish population<\/a>.<\/p>\n German president calls for greater appreciation of migrants while praising worst-integrated migrant group<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Accommodation absorbs a large share. The federal government does not even know the total number of asylum accommodations nationwide. An inquiry by Harms to all 401 districts and independent cities produced responses from 320 (about 80 percent). These authorities reported at least 4,437 communal accommodations housing nearly 295,000 residents as of March 2026 \u2014 an average of almost 14 per responding district. Extrapolated nationwide, this implies roughly one person in every 227 in Germany lives in taxpayer-financed asylum accommodation.<\/p>\n Harms notes that hotel owners, private landlords, and public companies have all massively benefited. In Hamburg, the municipal company F\u00f6rdern & Wohnen, which is 100 percent owned by the city, handles a large share of asylum accommodation. He notes that turnover rose from \u20ac60 million in 2013 to \u20ac747 million in 2025, and staff grew from 948 employees in 2014 to around 2,228 by 2025.<\/p>\n The company operates more than 200 sites and has expanded capacity amid non-European immigration. A former managing director who served less than five months in 2025 received payments totaling \u20ac453,000, including a substantial severance, according to the company\u2019s annual report.<\/p>\n Foreign women from several countries outpace German men in crime suspect rates, latest stats show<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Similar patterns appear elsewhere: long-term leases on converted offices and hotels, with public entities acting as both demand drivers and suppliers. In Berlin, a former office complex on Hasenheide in Kreuzberg is becoming an accommodation for up to 921 people. First residents were scheduled to move in from early October 2026. The lease runs roughly ten years, into the mid-2030s, paid from public funds. Conversion costs have not been disclosed, citing commercial confidentiality.<\/p>\n The Hasenheide project and the decade of accumulated costs illustrate the continuity. Rents and operating expenses continue into the 2030s, financed by the same solidarity community that underwrites the wider system.<\/p>\n The Welt article<\/a> also notes that immigration since 2015 has driven expansion in the social and welfare sector. The number of social workers and social pedagogues rose from about 278,000 in 2015 to 351,000, with the Federal Employment Agency linking part of the growth to refugee-related demand for counseling, care, and support.<\/p>\n Integration courses illustrate the mixed results of large spending. The federal government has allocated around \u20ac1.3 billion in peak years, with 2024 near \u20ac1.2 billion before later adjustments. Yet outcomes are limited, according to Welt. Roughly 55 percent of those who take the final test reach the target B1 language level, meaning a substantial share \u2014 often cited in the range of six in ten depending on the metric of \u201cgraduation\u201d or successful completion of the full course and exam \u2014 leave without the intended language qualification. Pass rates for B1 have hovered in the mid-50s in recent data, with many achieving only A2 or lower.<\/p>\n Harms further notes that the business of asylum migration has created durable economic interests. In other words, there are people and institutions getting rich for the millions of migrant who have come, which fuels demands for even more immigration.<\/p>\n Public companies, private landlords, course providers, NGOs, and expanded social services all draw ongoing revenue. Critics note that the loudest advocates of open borders and expansive humanitarianism rarely live next to the accommodations or send their children to the schools under the greatest pressure. Residents in affected neighborhoods and local workers experience the practical strains directly.<\/p>\n German education going up in flames despite record spending and record immigration<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n While governments speak of a \u201cmigration turnaround,\u201d the broader pro-migration complex continues. Demands for a world without borders, which claim \u201cno human is illegal,\u201d\u00a0persist among advocacy groups. These powerful groups have a keen interest in keeping the mass migration machine going, and so far, they have largely succeeded even if the majority of Germans are opposed<\/a>.<\/p>\nMany other costs are not tallied in the official figures<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Migrant housing is a huge burden for German taxpayers<\/h2>\n
Migrant welfare is core to the new German economy<\/h2>\n