Afghans in Germany are German citizens with Afghan ancestry, and non-citizen residents born in—or with ancestors from—Afghanistan. In 2025 the Federal Statistical Office of Germany estimated the number of people of Afghan descent residing in Germany at 515,000, and the number of Afghan citizens at 449,780, making them the third-largest group from outside the EU and the second-largest group from Asia.Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit (in German)
History Before 1979, the Afghan diaspora in Germany was small, with fewer than 2,000 Afghans residing in West Germany. This group consisted primarily of students and businessmen who arrived between the 1950s and 1970s. During this period, University exchange programs were established between the German school in Kabul and cities like Cologne, Bochum, and Bonn, which allowed the top graduates of to study in Germany. The trade city of Hamburg became a major hub commercially, particularly attracting traders of Afghan carpets.Baraulina, Tatjana; Bommes, Michael; El-Cherkeh, Tanja; Daume, Heike; Vadean, Florin P. (2007): Ägyptische, afghanische und serbische Diasporagemeinden in Deutschland und ihre Beiträge zur Entwicklung ihrer Herkunftsländer, HWWI Research Paper, No. 3-5, Hamburgisches WeltWirtschaftsInstitut (HWWI), Hamburg
First major migration wave of the 1980s and 1990s The Soviet invasion of 1979 and the establishment of the Afghan communist government in Kabul triggered the first major influx of Afghans, with the population reaching about 11,000 by 1982. Among these early refugees were many supporters of the Islamist mujahideen, who were the fiercest opponents of the Soviet troops. A second period of immigration followed in the mid-1980s, driven by the persecution of communist sympathizers. During the 1980s, the diaspora was primarily composed of the country's urban, mostly western-oriented political elite and highly educated people from Kabul, Herat and Kandahar, including government officials, academics, physicians and educators who faced or feared repression from the communist regime.
The next major wave of refugees arrived following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 and the outbreak of the First Afghan Civil War. This conflict culminated in 1992 when the mujahideen overthrew the pro-Soviet government, forcing many former state officials, communist regime employees, and their associates to flee. Around the same time, immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall, numerous Afghan scholarship students who had been studying at universities in former Eastern Bloc countries also moved to West Germany. This phase was followed by the Second Afghan Civil War between rival mujahideen factions. During the fierce fighting of the early 1990s, constant bombardments heavily targeted the capital city of Kabul, which forced a massive part of its population to flee. Most of the refugees who sought asylum in Germany during this period were well-educated Afghans escaping the collapsing political system. The situation escalated further with the takeover by the Taliban in 1996. Once the group established their regime, their repressive policies drove out the urban middle class that had previously managed to stay. Additionally, others fled to Germany due to economic reasons to support their families back home. As a result of these continuous conflicts, the Afghan population in Germany grew from around 20,000 in 1988 to 63,000 in 1996, and surpassed 70,000 in the early 2000s, making it one of the largest Afghan diaspora communities in the world at that time.
Following the U.S.-led invasion and the subsequent collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001, the number of registered Afghan citizens in Germany began a steady decline, dropping below 50,000 by 2009. This demographic shift was driven by a significant number of refugees choosing to remigrate back to Afghanistan, while many who stayed acquired German citizenship.
Second major migration wave since the 2010s By the late 2000s, the worsening security situation in Afghanistan, including Taliban attacks and U.S. drone strikes, stopped the return of refugees and pushed more people to leave the country again. The economic and social gap between Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries also played a role, as well as the fact that many Afghan refugees had already been living outside the country for over 20 years by that point. With little hope of building a stable life in Iran or Pakistan, and with limited chances of securing legal residence there, a growing number of Afghans decided to continue to Europe. In Germany, immigration from Afghanistan rose steadily from 2009 onward, and by 2014 was almost ten times higher than the previous low of 2007, while emigration stayed largely unchanged (see ).
With the end of the ISAF combat mission in late 2014,Das Ende der ISAF-Mission in Afghanistan. Bpb.de. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2026. conditions in Afghanistan deteriorated further. The disputed presidential election of 2014 had left the country in a political crisis, and declining international spending weakened the economy and contributed to rising unemployment, particularly among younger people.Daud, Malaiz (2014). The Consequences of Afghanistan’s 2014 Presidential Election Impasse. Barcelona Centre for International Affairs. Retrieved 5 October 2026.Naber, Adam (2016). Afghanistan: Gründe der Flucht und Sorgen jugendlicher Rückkehrer—Eine Auswertung aktueller Studien zur Lage von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Afghanistan. ASYLMAGAZIN 1–2/2016, p. 4–9. Retrieved 5 October 2026. The security situation also worsened, with the United Nations recording its highest number of civilian casualties to that point in 2015.Zahl ziviler Opfer nach Nato-Abzug auf Höchststand. ZEIT ONLINE. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2026. In Iran, the economic effects of international sanctions contributed to worsening conditions for Afghan residents,Christensen, Janne Bjerre (2016). GUESTS OR TRASH—Iran’s precarious policies towards the Afghan refugees in the wake of sanctions and regional wars. DIIS REPORT 2016: 11. Retrieved 5 October 2026. while some Afghan men were recruited, in some cases under pressure, to fight in the Syrian civil war.Feroz, Emran. Gründe für die Flucht aus Afghanistan—Schlange stehen für eine Zukunft. Die Tageszeitung. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2026. In Pakistan, the 2014 Peshawar school massacre was followed by increased pressure on Afghan refugees, including threats of mass deportation and reports of harassment, arrests and problems with residence documents.Afghans fleeing Pakistan after Peshawar school massacre. Al Jazeera. 7 February 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2026.Harassment' drives Afghan refugees from Pakistan. BBC. 26 February 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2026.“What Are You Doing Here?”—Police Abuses Against Afghans in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch. 18 November 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2026. Because of these circumstances, migration to Europe increased sharply in 2015. The extended European migrant crisis provided an unusually accessible overland corridor to Central Europe via the Balkan route, and established smuggling (qachaqbar) networks facilitated movement along the route.van Bijlert, Martine; Bjelica, Jelena. Afghan Exodus: The opening and closing of the Balkan corridor. Afghanistan Analysts Network. 5 August 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2026. Germany emerged as one of the principal destinations for Afghan asylum seekers, influenced by its reception policy during the refugee crisis, the established Afghan communities and the increasingly restrictive asylum and border policies adopted elsewhere in Europe.Ruttig, Thomas. Afghan Exodus: Afghan asylum seekers in Europe (3) – case study Germany. Afghanistan Analysts Network. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2026.]Brücker, Herbert et al. (2016). IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten—Flucht, Ankunft in Deutschland und erste Schritte der Integration. Retrieved 5 October 2016.Merkel calls for migrant agreements. Deutsche Welle. 24 September 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2026. Economic prospects and access to education were additional considerations for some migrants. In 2015, almost 95,000 people Afghan citizens immigrated to Germany, followed by a further 70,000 in 2016 (see ). These migrants were predominantly young men, many of them with low levels of formal education, and the influx included a substantial number of unaccompanied minors.Afghanische Flüchtlinge: Alter, Geschlecht, Familie. Mediendienst Integration. Retrieved 5 October 2026.IAB-BAMF-SOEP-Befragung von Geflüchteten 2016: Studiendesign, Feldergebnisse sowie Analysen zu schulischer wie beruflicher Qualifikation, Sprachkenntnissen sowie kognitiven Potenzialen. DIW Berlin: Politikberatung kompakt, No. 123, p. 27/28. Retrieved 5 October 2026. The movement declined sharply after March 2016 following the EU–Turkey statement and the closure of the route.
In late December 2016, Germany decided to repatriate 11,900 Afghans back to their home country, what is known as Second collective deportation.
Thousands of Afghans came to Germany following the withdrawal of German training forces in Afghanistan in 2021. They are mostly people who worked with the German army or German aid agencies in Afghanistan.
Two days after the 2025 German federal election an Air charter from Pakistan landed in Berlin, bringing 155 Afghans to Germany under various programs, initiated by the ousted Scholz cabinet. Five of the individuals had actually worked for the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan, the rest were family members and other people deemed to be in danger under the Taliban regime. The arrival was met with criticism and Alexander Throm of the election-winning party CDU suspected a plan by parting foreign minister Annalena Baerbock to bring as many Afghans as possible to Germany, before losing the power to do so. Another 3000 Afghans, who already had clearance to come to Germany, given by the parting government, were stuck in Pakistan as of early 2025. An attempt by the CDU to find out who the roughly 100 NGO´s were, who did choose the majority of the Afghans destined to come to Germany using the so called "Bundesaufnahmeprogramm für besonders gefährdete Menschen aus Afghanistan" was thwarted by the Scholz-administration by declaring the list of NGO´s Classified information. A third flight landed in Hannover on 27 March 2025 with another 200 Afghans, the former administration had deemed as vunerable.
The government suspended the distribution of new visa for Afghans in Pakistan after the new administration took over in May 2025. In June 2025 activists of the NGO "Kabul Luftbrücke" called the court Verwaltungsgericht Berlin to force the government to bring the remaining estimated 2400 Afghans, who already had an Federal Foreign Office acceptance letter, from Pakistan to Germany. A Berlin administrative court decided in July 2025, that an Afghan woman and 13 of her relatives, currently in Pakistan, have to be given Visa to come to Germany, after having been given invitations by the last administration in October 2023.
A group of 47 Afghans, who all had enforced access to Germany through legal proceedings, were taken from Islamabad to Hannover on 1 September 2025. 2 got lost during a stop in Istanbul, the other 45 arrived in Hannover.Eva Maria Braungart: "Bericht: Afghanen verpassten Anschlussflug nach Deutschland wegen Shopping" Berliner Zeitung, 2 September 2025, retrieved 2 September 2025 At the same time, 210 Afghans, who had been deported from Pakistan to Afghanistan despite having German acceptance letters, and were at the time housed with GiZ funding in Kabul, wrote an open letter to the German chancellor demanding immediate transport to Germany."Hunderte Afghanen schreiben Brandbrief an Merz – und fordern Umsiedlung nach Deutschland" Welt.de 2 September 2025, retrieved 2 September 2025
Demographics Population