Nearly half of Germany’s €17.68 billion in housing support for 2024 was paid out to foreigners, according to new government data cited by Bild. The money, distributed as part of the Bürgergeld welfare system, was used to cover rent, heating, operating costs, and deposits for low-income residents.
Of the total, €8.15 billion went to people without German citizenship, even though they make up just around 15 percent of the population.
The remaining €9.53 billion went to German citizens — this includes German-born individuals and those born elsewhere who have become naturalized.
The figures were revealed in the federal government’s response to a parliamentary inquiry by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party.
Labor market expert Holger Schäfer of the Institute of the German Economy explained that the housing costs mirror the overall distribution of Bürgergeld recipients. “About half of the recipients of the Bürgergeld are foreigners,” he told the German tabloid. “So, it is not surprising that almost half of the costs for accommodation are caused by foreigners.” He also noted that larger family sizes among migrant households often lead to higher housing expenses.
AfD MP Reinhard Mixl sharply criticized the government’s approach, accusing it of being more generous to foreigners than to working Germans. “Those who receive citizen’s allowance often have more net than a working low-income earner due to the housing costs covered,” he said.
Remix News reported in May last year that statistics released by the Federal Employment Agency showed 63.1 percent of Bürgergeld recipients as of late 2023 had a migration background. This includes both first- and second-generation migrants — those born abroad or with parents who were. Of the 3.93 million people receiving Bürgergeld in December 2023, some 2.48 million were of migrant origin, including 1.83 million who did not have German citizenship.
In some states, the disparity is even more stark. In Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, and Hamburg, for example, over 70 percent of all recipients are migrants, with figures at 76.4 percent, 74.1 percent, and 72.8 percent, respectively.
Further data from December last year revealed that as of August 2024, 518,050 Syrians in Germany were still reliant on Bürgergeld — nearly a decade after the 2015 refugee influx.
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