Arabs in Germany
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Berlin, Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Cologne, Hanover, Bremen, Dortmund, Essen, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Gelsenkirchen, Offenbach, Leipzig | |
| Languages | |
| German · Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| predominantly Islam, but also Christians. |
Arabs in Germany form the second-largest predominantly Muslim immigrant group in Germany after the large German-Turkish community. There is an estimated number of 500,000 people of Arab origin residing in Germany.[2] Most Arabs came to Germany in the 1970s, partly as Gastarbeiter from Morocco, the Turkish Province of Mardin (see: Arabs in Turkey) and Tunisia. However, the majority of Arabs are refugees of the conflicts in the Middle East, e.g the Lebanon Wars and the recent Iraq War. The Arabs in Germany aren't a homogenous group, because they originate from about 20 countries and are of different ethnicity.[3]
Geographical distribution
The largest concentration of Arab people in Germany, can be found in Berlin, where they make up 2%-3% (70,000 people) of the population. The percentage is significantly higher in the Berlin boroughs of Neukölln, Kreuzberg and Wedding. Other significant centres of Arab populations in Germany can be found in Frankfurt am Main, Cologne, Munich, in the Ruhrgebiet, Hanover, Bonn and Hamburg. [4] Most Arabs reside in urban areas and cities in former West-Germany. The only place in former Eastern Germany with a sizeable number of Arabs is Leipzig, where people of any Arab descent make up 0.8% of the total population (4,000 out of 522,800). [5]