New census data from Germany paints a telling picture of who comes to the country to learn, and Morocco features prominently among them. According to preliminary results from the 2025 mini-census released by Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, Morocco ranks fifth among countries of origin for people who moved to Germany specifically to study, train, or pursue specialized education.
Out of 924,000 people recorded in Germany under this study-and-training migration category, 37,000 are of Moroccan origin, representing roughly 4 percent of the total. That places Morocco just behind Iran, and well behind India, which tops the list with 98,000 people, followed by China with 77,000 and Turkey with 52,000.
The breakdown offers a closer look at this population’s makeup. Nearly 79 percent of people in this category arrived from countries outside the European Union, while 21 percent came from EU member states, the European Free Trade Association, or the United Kingdom. Men slightly outnumber women, at 55 percent versus 45 percent.
Perhaps the most striking figure concerns legal status: about 75 percent of those who came to Germany for education still hold foreign national status, a pattern Destatis links to the largely temporary nature of study-related migration. The average length of stay for this group stands at 14 years, notably shorter than the residency spans recorded among older migration waves, a sign that this population turns over more quickly than others.
Zooming out, Germany’s statistics office recorded approximately 16.4 million people who have arrived in the country since 1950, alongside 5.4 million people born to immigrant parents. Destatis cautions that the migration motives captured in the census rely on respondents’ own statements rather than verified administrative records, meaning the figures should be read with some caution, though they remain useful for distinguishing between different migration pathways into the country.
The ranking underscores a broader trend: German universities are steadily gaining ground among young Moroccans weighing their options abroad, increasingly rivaling the traditionally dominant French-speaking destinations for higher education.
