Germany's costs related to refugees and migration have reached around 400 billion euros for the period 2016-2025. The estimate is by journalist Björn Harms and is presented in his book “The Refugee Complex - When Tax Money Becomes Loot“. The amount is 400 billion, not 400 million euros.
According to Harms, the federal government has accounted for over 242 billion euros in refugee-related costs over the ten-year period. The federal states have added over 100 billion euros from their own budgets. Ultimately, the additional costs of the municipalities are also included, as well as subsequent payments for health, education and justice.
Thousands of accommodation centers
Harms describes the asylum system as a business that began to grow rapidly in 2015. Then the municipalities began to pay for the accommodation of arrivals, and empty hotels were converted into reception centers. According to him, since 2015, around three million people have arrived in Germany through the asylum system.
To calculate the scale of the infrastructure, the journalist sent inquiries to all 401 administrative districts and independent cities in the country. 320 of them provided reliable data. As of March 2026, 4,437 collective accommodation centres were operating in these areas, housing around 295,000 people.
On average, there are almost 14 centres for asylum seekers per administrative district. Harms's calculation shows that approximately one in 227 German residents lives in a district with such a centre, the financing of which is covered by public funds.
Growth in turnover and staff
As an example of the growth of the sector, Harms points to the Hamburg company “Fördern und Vonen“, which is entirely municipally owned and is responsible for accommodating a large proportion of asylum seekers in the city. Its turnover has grown from 60 million euros in 2013 to 747 million euros in 2025.
Over the same period, the number of employees has increased from 948 to 2,228. Harms also points to a case in which a former company manager received 453,000 euros for just under five months of work.
According to the journalist, the growth also affects social services. Since 2015, the number of social workers and social educators in Germany has increased from 278,000 to 351,000. The federal government spent around 1.3 billion euros on integration courses in 2025, but six out of ten participants left without completing them.
„The loudest apostles of humanity rarely demand that the sacrifices be made by themselves. Instead, they demand them from society as a whole and from the state," Harms writes. He claims that a sustainable complex of companies, social organizations and charitable structures has formed around migration, while the German government talks about changing migration policy.
Sources: ftp.clubz.bg, news.bg