Mass Immigration: Cost or Benefit?
Mass Immigration: Cost or Benefit?

Summary/Abstract: Although the present study frequently refers to Germany, I believe that my conclusions apply more generally to ageing European societies and to the impact of migration from poor to rich countries. Like much of Europe, Germany is an ageing society. The proportion of the working age population is falling, while the proportion of pensioners or the elderly is rising.1 Therefore, it seems like a plausible idea to close this demographic gap with those mostly young people who are clamouring for access to Europe’s welfare states. More and more people want to come to Germany and other rich European countries from Africa and Middle Eastern countries ravaged by civil war and repression, or even from impoverished countries in the Balkans where many people have lost hope of ever finding a job in the formal economy and earning a decent wage. Hence optimists believe that the needs of ageing European economies and the needs of would-be immigrants knocking at our doors complement each other. We open our doors for refugees and people trying to escape from civil war, hunger and poverty. They come. Host countries, refugees and other immigrants improve their lives. The world becomes a better place.

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