The survival of the German healthcare system depends on immigrants, of the approximately 4.2 million workers in the sector, nearly 700,000 are currently foreigners, pointed out the experts of the German Integration and Migration Council in their new report.
The main countries of origin of immigrants are Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
The German healthcare system is on the verge of collapse without immigrant workers
- said the experts.
Immigrants make the most of care for the elderly, they account for a quarter of the employees in this field. In the aging German society, there is an increasing demand for the care of the elderly, but there is a serious labor shortage in the profession. Home care is not an option in most families during the decline of the multigenerational family model.
Based on the data published by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) at the end of last year, the number of residents of retirement age (over 67) will increase to twenty million by 2035 , i.e. there will be nearly four million more elderly people than at present.
Germany's population is currently around 83 million, but Destatis pointed out that it could reach 90 million by 2070, not due to an increase in the number of births, but due to immigration. Based on estimates, the number of residents over the age of 80 will stagnate at roughly 5.8 to 6.7 million until the mid-2030s, but later on their proportion in society will increase rapidly, so the demand for long-term care will presumably increase.
These changes in population structure can already be seen in today's age distribution. We have to fight against the aging process and the resulting social challenges
- said Karsten Lummer, head of Destatis' social affairs department.
And while the number of people in need of care is growing rapidly and an estimated 670,000 caregiving jobs could remain unfilled in Germany by 2050, researchers are already working to create robots that can take over some of the tasks performed by nurses, caregivers and doctors.
Furthermore, Berlin would continue to solve the labor shortage by settling immigrants; the left-liberal government coalition also recently announced that it will not increase the funds that can be used for family support programs .
Featured image: Gettyimages
