Germany's foreign population rose by 419,900 to more than 7.6m in 2013 - - 8.8% of the overall population and a record since the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR) was established in 1967.

Destatis, the federal statistics office, said on Friday that compared with 2012, the number of foreigners rose by 5.8%. In 2011, the number of foreigners increased by 177,300 (+2.6%) and in 2012 it rose by 282,800 (+4.1%). The 2013 increase is the highest since 1992. It is composed of three components: a migration surplus (balance of arrivals and departures) of 518,800 people, an excess of births (balance of births and deaths) amounting to 14,200, and a fall of 113,000 people whose register entries were deleted following naturalisation.

Three-quarters of the newly registered net arrivals came from the European Union (EU). They fall into three groups. The numerically largest number came from the 10 states that joined the EU in 2004 (8 former Soviet-controlled states + Cyprus and Malta), with an increase of 127,100 and 15.9% compared with 2012. This group is headed by Poland (+14.6%) and Hungary (+ 26.3%). The second group consists of the three countries which joined the EU in 2007-2012 at 106,000 (+19.3%). Here Romania (30.4%) and Bulgaria (+23.6%) account for the largest share.

Destatis says that immigration from the euro crisis Mediterranean countries was at + 63 700 (+ 6.0%). This group is mainly from Spain (+12.7%), Greece (+6.1%) and Italy (+4.4%) led.

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