Press release No. 045 of 3 February 2023
- Altogether 133,400 German students at higher education institutions abroad
- Moderate year-on-year decline despite pandemic related restrictions
WIESBADEN – In 2020, 133,400 German students were studying at institutions of higher education abroad. That was a decrease of 4,500, or 3.3%, compared with a year earlier, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). The decline on 2019 was altogether moderate despite the pandemic related restrictions applying in the first Covid year of 2020. The number of German students was declining strongly above all in China (-4,700, or -57.9%) and the United States (-3,900, or -42.0%). In contrast, larger increases in German student numbers were recorded especially in Austria (+3,600, or +11.9%) and the Netherlands (+2,100, or +9.2%). When interpreting these figures, it should be kept in mind that they do not reveal whether students were actually staying abroad or continued their studies via remote learning because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
