The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on internal migration in Germany: A descriptive analysis

Abstract

The COVID‐19 pandemic has affected economies, labor markets, health care, education and tourism around the globe in unprecedented ways. However, little research has yet been devoted to the impact that the pandemic might have had on internal migration. This study aims to address this gap by determining how the intensity and spatial patterns of internal migration changed between 2019 and 2020 in Germany. We draw on data from the population register on annual flows between 401 counties. We find that the COVID‐19 pandemic was associated with a 5% drop in the intensity of inter‐county migration in 2020 compared to the previous year, with significant variation across age. The pandemic was also associated with an upsurge in net migration losses for the largest cities, driven by fewer inflows of young adults and continuing outflows of families.

Rural revival? The rise in internal migration to rural areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Who moved and where?

“…These findings indicate a general pattern of migratory movements to rural areas across populations in different stages of the life course. This is contrary to the patterns observed in Germany, where families and middle-aged people dominated conterurbanisation movements (Stawarz et al, 2022). Anecdotal evidence from Spanish media outlets suggests that young people and families tend to move to rural areas at a greater intensity (Nef, 2020;Galán, 2021).…”

“…To date, an increase in internal migration from urban centres to areas with lower population density has also been documented in six countries: Spain (González-Leonardo et al, 2022b). Japan (Fielding and Ishikawa, 2021), Great Britain (Rowe et al 2022), Germany (Stawarz et al, 2022), Sweden (Vogiazides and Kawalerowicz, 2022) and Australia (Borsellino et al, 2022). In Sweden, the largest increase in migration flows from the city of Stockholm occurred in adjacent, less densely populated areas and in certain holiday town with second homes.…”

“…Reports about a "rural revival" emerged as a result from an "exodus" from large cities (Marsh, 2020;Oliveres and Sanchez, 2021). Recent empirical evidence has confirmed an increase in internal migration from dense cities to rural areas in Spain (González-Leonardo et al, 2022b), Japan (Fielding and Ishikawa, 2021), United Kingdom (Rowe et al 2022), Germany (Stawarz et al, 2022), Sweden (Vogiazides and Kawalerowicz, 2022) and Australia (Borsellino et al, 2022). However, these changes were less pronounced than anticipated and seem to have been temporary.…”

El impacto demográfico de la COVID-19 durante 2020 y sus diferencias regionales. ¿Cómo afectará la pandemia al futuro de la población española?

“…Ambos componentes estarán fuertemente condicionados en los próximos años por el devenir de la pandemia y de la economía. En cuanto a las migraciones internas, sabemos que ha habido un aumento de las salidas desde las grandes ciudades hacia espacios con menores densidades de población durante 2020, y un descenso de las llegadas a los ámbitos urbanos (González-Leonardo et al, 2022;Stawarz et al, 2022).…”

“…Las restricciones a la movilidad, el cierre de fronteras y la desaceleración económica causada por la pandemia han tenido consecuencias muy importantes en las migraciones internacionales (Guadango, 2020;International Organization for Migration, 2020;Charles-Edwards et al, 2021; Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles, (93) Wilson et al, 2021), las internas (González-Leonardo et al, 2022;Stawarz et al, 2022;Vogiazides & Kawalerowicz, 2022) y en los desplazamientos cotidianos (Duque et al, 2021). De acuerdo a los datos de la Estadística de Migraciones (EM) del INE, el número de inmigrantes internacionales se redujo un 29,6 % durante el primer semestre de 2020 y un 45,2 % en el segundo, respecto al mismo periodo del año anterior, una tendencia que se mantuvo también durante los seis primeros meses de 2021.…”