PassPeersImmigrant population
Foreign nationals
15.8%
of residents · 2,840,060 people
Germany: 14.9% · 6th highest of 16
31 Dec 2025 · Source
What this does and doesn't say
Share of residents who do not hold German citizenship. A higher share usually means larger international communities and more services used to foreign residents.
Naturalised Germans are not counted. It says nothing about how welcome you will feel.
Moved to Germany from abroad
21.9%
of residents
Germany: 19.8% · 6th highest of 16
2025 · Source
What this does and doesn't say
Share of residents in private households who were born abroad and moved to Germany themselves (Microcensus, “Eingewanderte”), whatever their passport.
A sample survey (first results); people in shared accommodation are not included.
Hate crime
Read with care: Recorded crime depends on how often people report and how the police record it, and definitions differ from country to country. Compare regions within one country, not across countries.
Violent right-wing hate crimes
0.8
per 100,000 residents · 138 recorded
Germany: 1.5 · 14th highest of 16
2025 · calculated · Source
What this does and doesn't say
Violent offences that the police recorded as right-wing politically motivated and as hate crime, per 100,000 residents. Calculated by PassPeers from the Federal Government's case list (Bundestag document 21/5639) and Destatis population on 31 Dec 2025.
Only crimes reported to the police and classed this way. Hate crime from other motives is not included, many incidents are never reported, and small states swing a lot from year to year.
Right-wing politically motivated crimes
35
per 100,000 residents
Germany: 51 · 13th highest of 16
2025 · Source
What this does and doesn't say
All offences the police classed as right-wing politically motivated, per 100,000 residents, as published by the Federal Government. In 2025, 74% of xenophobic crimes recorded in Germany fell into this category (BKA).
Includes propaganda offences, damage and insults, not only offences against people. It is not a measure of how people in a state vote or think.
Recorded crime
Read with care: Recorded crime depends on how often people report and how the police record it, and definitions differ from country to country. Compare regions within one country, not across countries.
Recorded crime
7,524
per 100,000 residents · 1,356,972 recorded
Germany: 6,591 · 5th highest of 16
2025 · Source
What this does and doesn't say
All criminal offences recorded by the police, per 100,000 residents – the BKA's frequency figure (Häufigkeitszahl) from the Police Crime Statistics (PKS).
Crimes are counted where they happen, so city states with many commuters and visitors show higher rates. Includes offences such as fare dodging, drug possession and breaches of residence law. Unreported crime is missing.
Violent crime
299.2
per 100,000 residents · 53,955 recorded
Germany: 254.1 · 5th highest of 16
2025 · Source
What this does and doesn't say
Offences the PKS groups as violent crime (Gewaltkriminalität – for example robbery, serious assault, rape and homicide), per 100,000 residents.
Simple assault is not part of this group. Same counting rules as above.
Out and about? Our sister app Stay Safe uses official police data like this, area by area, in 40 countries.
The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) publishes hate crime only for Germany as a whole, so the state figures here come from the Federal Government's answer to a parliamentary question, which covers right-wing motivated crime only.
The PKS also publishes district (Kreis) and city tables; this map shows the 16 states.
We don't rank regions as “friendly” or “unfriendly”. No single number can tell you that, and an area's figures don't describe the people you will meet. Use these figures as one input, next to jobs, housing and the people you know there.
Largest cities
People from your country in North Rhine-Westphalia
Most common here among the 37 countries we list (by citizenship):
- Türkiye 483,035
- Ukraine 288,310
- Syria 280,650
- Poland 211,865
- Romania 170,100
- Iraq 87,800
- Afghanistan 75,265
- Russia 54,065
Germany counts citizenship, not birthplace: people who became German citizens are not included, and children born in Germany with a foreign passport are. Per 1,000 is calculated by PassPeers from the register count and Destatis population on 30 Nov 2025. See all states on the map →
Closer look: recorded crime by area
Read with care: Recorded crime depends on how often people report and how the police record it, and definitions differ from country to country. Compare regions within one country, not across countries. Small areas with few residents can show very high rates from a handful of cases.
Recorded crime by district in North Rhine-Westphalia
53 districts · 1 Jan – 31 Dec 2025 · Source
Rates per 100,000 residents (Häufigkeitszahl) as the BKA publishes them. Cities are separate districts, so they stand out against the rural districts around them: crimes are counted where they happen, including those against commuters and visitors.
All 53 districts as a table
| Districts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Düsseldorf city | 12,99980,422 | 498.83,086 |
| Köln city | 12,727130,400 | 539.45,527 |
| Dortmund city | 11,44769,075 | 587.63,546 |
| Duisburg city | 10,39552,212 | 443.22,226 |
| Münster city | 10,06931,038 | 371.81,146 |
| Hamm city | 9,92617,864 | 351.7633 |
| Wuppertal city | 9,88635,409 | 505.61,811 |
| Mönchengladbach city | 9,17124,505 | 373.5998 |
| Krefeld city | 9,04020,918 | 364.7844 |
| Essen city | 9,01351,797 | 343.31,973 |
| Gelsenkirchen city | 8,93923,950 | 450.11,206 |
| Herne city | 8,65413,487 | 343.9536 |
| Bonn city | 8,59327,785 | 3811,232 |
| Hagen city | 8,55516,288 | 371.9708 |
| Bochum city | 8,53830,624 | 312.81,122 |
| Aachen district | 8,28148,227 | 290.21,690 |
| Oberhausen city | 8,10917,325 | 323690 |
| Bielefeld city | 8,04126,664 | 459.31,523 |
| Bottrop city | 7,3268,684 | 248.9295 |
| Recklinghausen district | 7,27945,225 | 2541,578 |
| Leverkusen city | 7,01511,826 | 293494 |
| Remscheid city | 6,6507,569 | 282321 |
| Solingen city | 6,56810,879 | 261.4433 |
| Mettmann district | 6,55432,172 | 291.31,430 |
| Kleve district | 6,50120,933 | 212.4684 |
| Rhein-Erft-Kreis district | 6,47630,953 | 207.3991 |
| Mülheim an der Ruhr city | 6,35911,004 | 207.5359 |
| Rhein-Kreis Neuss district | 6,29128,754 | 211.3966 |
| Soest district | 6,09918,316 | 230.1691 |
| Paderborn district | 6,05419,125 | 234.9742 |
| Borken district | 5,95322,668 | 224.5855 |
| Märkischer Kreis district | 5,94824,271 | 227.2927 |
| Unna district | 5,91523,294 | 202.1796 |
| Düren district | 5,78016,143 | 214.1598 |
| Steinfurt district | 5,72225,846 | 179.5811 |
| Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis district | 5,65517,765 | 192.3604 |
| Wesel district | 5,62825,770 | 200.7919 |
| Viersen district | 5,59716,670 | 224.6669 |
| Euskirchen district | 5,49011,124 | 220.6447 |
| Heinsberg district | 5,24413,828 | 210.1554 |
| Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis district | 5,20714,801 | 205.1583 |
| Warendorf district | 5,19314,676 | 180.4510 |
| Gütersloh district | 5,09018,528 | 173.1630 |
| Rhein-Sieg-Kreis district | 5,00430,295 | 186.31,128 |
| Coesfeld district | 4,89211,147 | 149.2340 |
| Siegen-Wittgenstein district | 4,80913,181 | 201551 |
| Herford district | 4,72812,027 | 167.1425 |
| Hochsauerlandkreis district | 4,70712,279 | 192.8503 |
| Minden-Lübbecke district | 4,69615,054 | 215.9692 |
| Lippe district | 4,64516,126 | 222.7773 |
| Höxter district | 4,3376,039 | 183.8256 |
| Olpe district | 4,1535,496 | 153.4203 |
| Oberbergischer Kreis district | 3,97710,898 | 149.6410 |
Small figures under each rate: the number of recorded cases.
District outlines © GeoBasis-DE / BKG, Datenlizenz Deutschland – Namensnennung 2.0 (via opendatasoft georef-germany-kreis), simplified.
Compare North Rhine-Westphalia with another state
| Figure | North Rhine-Westphalia | Germany | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Immigrant population | |||
| Foreign nationals% of residents · 31 Dec 2025 | 15.8% | 14.9% | |
| Moved to Germany from abroad% of residents · 2025 | 21.9% | 19.8% | |
| Hate crime | |||
| Violent right-wing hate crimesper 100,000 residents · 2025 | 0.8 | 1.5 | |
| Right-wing politically motivated crimesper 100,000 residents · 2025 | 35 | 51 | |
| Recorded crime | |||
| Recorded crimeper 100,000 residents · 2025 | 7,524 | 6,591 | |
| Violent crimeper 100,000 residents · 2025 | 299.2 | 254.1 | |
Differences between two regions are not a verdict on either. Read each figure's notes above.
Other states
Official help for newcomers
Routes into Germany
Sources
- Destatis – Population by nationality and federal state, 31 Dec 2025 (Bevölkerungsfortschreibung, Zensus 2022 basis)
- Destatis – Population in private households by immigration history and state, Microcensus 2025 first results
- Deutscher Bundestag, Drucksache 21/5639 – Federal Government answer on right-wing politically motivated crime in the states 2025 (24 Apr 2026), with case annex
- BKA – Politisch motivierte Kriminalität 2025, bundesweite Fallzahlen (fact sheet)
- BKA – Polizeiliche Kriminalstatistik 2025, Länder case table T01 with frequency figures (V1.0, 6 Mar 2026)
Map outlines: Natural Earth (public domain), simplified. Checked 20 October 2026. Figures marked “calculated” are one official count divided by an official population; nothing here is estimated or scored by PassPeers.