Muslim Life in Germany - Deutsche Islam Konferenz

118 Sociodemographics and migration biography
persons from Iran (48 per cent) and the Middle East (54 per
cent). These stated more frequently than persons from other
regions that they had come to Germany seeking asylum or as
refugees.
The region of Southeast Europe represents a special case.
As the countries of the former Yugoslavia, which had concluded
a labour recruitment agreement with Germany, were subsumed
under this region of origin, many respondents stated that they
came to Germany to work (28 per cent) or to join members of the
family already living in Germany. Equally, the Balkans conflict
at the beginning of the 1990s prompted almost one third of the
interviewees from Southeast Europe (36 per cent) to flee to Germany
or to apply for asylum here.
Table 14: Interviewees’ reasons for immigrating, according to region of
origin (in per cent); interviewees were able to state several
reasons
South-
east
Europe
Turkey
Central
Asia/
CIS
Iran
South/
South-
east
Asia
Middle
East
North
Africa
other
parts
of
Africa
Total
Work 27,6 33,4 9,6 6,3 13,6 13,7 21,6 14,5 21,6
Refuge/asylum 36,4 7,2 11,4 48,4 55,2 54,0 9,0 50,9 20,0
Accompanying family 58,5 61,9 79,0 40,2 37,0 46,0 44,0 26,1 62,8
Subsequent immigration
to join family
31,2 59,0 35,7 25,0 26,6 20,6 35,6 31,5 41,6
Study 13,9 11,0 9,3 38,8 27,3 31,6 38,1 29,7 14,8
Self-employment 10,7 16,5 5,5 21,9 11,7 10,7 13,4 11,8 11,6
Other reasons 13,9 11,0 9,3 38,8 27,3 31,6 38,1 29,7 14,8
Total (n) 645 443 954 271 637 683 350 391 4.374
Source: MLG 2008, dataset of interviewees aged 16 and over, weighted.