While some have speculated that increased immigration could be a strain on Germany's social security systems, new figures reported by German media seem to show that the safety net is actually profiting greatly. Data from the German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme shows that pension fund and health insurance contributions are stable in the country thanks to the increased number of immigrants, Handelsblatt reports. The number of non-Germans paying into social security systems increased by 53 percent - or 1.7 million people - between 2008 and 2015. Another result of the relatively young ages of the immigrants paying into the pension system is that they have many more years until retirement, and therefore more time to feed money into the system, Focus reports. “The figures show: immigration in the German labour market is working out well,” conservative CDU party pension expert Peter Weiß told Handelsblatt.

Source: The Local July 26, 2017 12:45 UTC