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Greeks and Spanish flee to Germany in job hunt

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Greeks and Spanish flee to Germany in job hunt
Photo: DPA

Fleeing rising unemployment, people from Greece and Spain poured into Germany last year, fuelling the highest rise in immigration for 16 years, data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday showed.

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There were 90 percent more immigrants to Germany from Greece last year than in 2010 and 52 percent more from Spain in the same time period, the office said.

Overall nearly a million people moved to Germany last year – some 958,000 – which accounts for a 20 percent increase over 2010. With 679,000 people leaving, there was a net influx of 279,000 immigrants – the highest level since 1996, the office said.

Apart from immigrants from crisis-plagued European Union countries, many immigrants came from countries that have recently joined the EU, such as Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania.

Most immigrants settled in North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse, the data office reported.

DAPD/The Local/mw

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