At Least 73 Members of the New German Federal Parliament Have a Migration Background, Accounting for 11.6% of the Total of 630 Members, According to a Recent Research.
At least 73 members of the new German federal parliament have a migration background, which corresponds to an 11.6% share of the total of 630 members, according to a recent research published by the media service Integration on Thursday. This marks a stagnation in the proportion, after several election periods and is a decrease from the 11.3% in 2021 and the 5.9% in 2013. People with a personal or family migration history are still underrepresented in the parliament, as they make up 29.7% of the general population and 14.4% of the electorate.
Among the 73 members with a migration background, 25 have a connection to countries of the European Union, with seven of those being from Poland. Eighteen have a connection to Turkey and eight to former Soviet states, according to the statistics. The proportion of female members with a migration background is 47.2%, which is significantly higher than the 32.4% in the federal parliament as a whole. Furthermore, the members with a migration background are, on average, younger (around 42.1 years old) than the members in general (47.1 years old).
There are significant differences in the proportion of members with a migration background between the parties, the research found. The Greens have the highest proportion, at 20%, followed by the Left Party, at 18.8%. The Social Democratic Party has 17.5%, while the Union parties and the Alternative for Germany have 6.3% and 5.9%, respectively.
“It’s about fairness of opportunity and not about being proportionally represented in the parliaments” said politics scientist Andreas Wüst to the media service Integration. “But in some parties, there are greater deficits. And also the various migrant groups are not equally well-represented in the parliaments and factions.” If members of parliament with a migration background are marginalized, it would hinder equal participation, Wüst added.