Integration - The percentage of people with migration background is growing
The share of people with migration background in the population of Hesse is growing - up to 38 percent last year. However, participation is a different story. This will be shown by the current Integration Monitor 2024.
Integration is working well in many places, emphasized Social Minister Heike Hofmann (SPD) at the presentation of the approximately 370-page paper in Wiesbaden. She referred to the fact that 54 percent of migrant women and men felt at home here.
However, the report also shows that access to education and the labor market for migrants should be improved. For example, kindergarten children with migration background should learn German as soon as possible, Hofmann said. Here, for example, the "Sprachkitas" funding program is used.
Children with a migration background perform worse in education
According to the report, fourth-graders and fourth-graders with both migrant parents are more likely to miss academic requirements, such as in the area of German/Reading. Thirty-one percent of them do not meet these requirements, compared to 9 percent of children without a migration background.
Only 19 percent of youth with a migration background graduate from high school with an Abitur, according to statistics. The percentage of dropouts and dropouts without a migration background is 37 percent, nearly double. In Hofmann's opinion, a key to better education is individual support, which needs to be improved.
Monitor is fed by statistics and studies
The Hessian Integration Monitor has been compiled every two years since 2010. According to the ministry, data from over 30 sources were included in this year. These include official statistics and social scientific surveys.
In Hesse, approximately 2.4 million people live with a migration background, which means that they themselves or at least one of their parents are immigrants. In 2005, their share of the total population was still 24 percent, according to statistics.
Ukrainian refugees have relatively high educational achievements
The current report contains data on refugees from Ukraine for the first time. Since the beginning of the Russian attack war in 2022, there has been a significant increase in Ukrainian children and adolescents at Hessian schools - over 19,000 by May of this year. In Hesse, there were around 90,000 Ukrainian asylum seekers registered at the end of 2023. In the summer of 2023, more than half of the Ukrainian interviewees expressed the intention to stay in Germany permanently or for several years.
The Minister pointed out that Ukrainian women and men often have higher educational achievements compared to other groups of migrants. However, for these women to be able to work, childcare must be provided, Hofmann explained.
Minister: Integration policy remains a long-term societal task
According to the report, there are still significant differences in many areas of life between the population with and without a migration background, such as income and health. This is also due to the persistent strong immigration, explained the Minister. "The gaps between the results for the population with and without a migration background are shrinking in many areas, but they are not closing." This is not surprising in a society with ongoing immigration.
"It's encouraging that social participation is tending to improve, the longer immigrants have been living here," explained Hofmann. "Integration policy remains not only due to ongoing immigration a long-term societal task."
- Despite the growing share of people with migration background in Hesse, up to 38% last year, the Integration Monitor 2024 will show that participation is a different story.
- Heike Hofmann, the Social Minister in Hesse, stated that integration is working well in many places, citing that 54% of migrant women and men feel at home.
- Hofmann highlighted the need to improve access to education and the labor market for migrants, suggesting that kindergarten children with migration background should learn German as soon as possible.
- The report revealed that fourth-graders and fourth-graders with both migrant parents are more likely to miss academic requirements in the German/Reading area, with 31% not meeting them compared to 9% without migration background.
- Only 19% of youth with a migration background graduate from high school with an Abitur, according to statistics, while the percentage of dropouts and dropouts without a migration background is 37%.
- The Hessian Integration Monitor, compiled every two years since 2010, uses data from over 30 sources, including official statistics and social scientific surveys.
- The current report includes data on Ukrainian refugees for the first time, noting that since the beginning of the Russian attack war in 2022, there has been a significant increase in Ukrainian children and adolescents at Hessian schools.
