Survey Shows Many Germans Don't Stray Far From Home
July 17, 2008
Germans, it seems, are essentially home bodies, according to a new survey.
In the report conducted by and published on the portal meinestadt.de, 54.7 percent of the 10,500 Germans who answered the questionnaire live in or in the vicinity of the place of their birth. A surprising 33.5 percent of these live in the house they grew up in or on the same street as their childhood home.
Of the 45.3 percent of those canvassed who no longer live in their home town or surrounding areas, just over half of them live in the same state as they were born in.
The attachment with their birthplace remains strong for those 10.7 percent who have moved to another country.
Some 25.6 percent said they visited their birthplace several times a year; 13.3 percent go back once a month and 11.4 percent visit at least once a week, presumably from one of the countries on Germany's borders.
However, 17.8 percent of the interviewees said they had no more contact with the place in which they were born.