Diversity in the Bundestag: exposed to migration background and underrepresentation!

On March 21, 2025, the ndr that there is a representative gap in Muslim background in the German Bundestag. According to an investigation into the media service integration, around 11.7 percent of MPs have a migration background, which is below the share of this group in the total population and the eligible voter. Despite an increasing proportion of MPs with a migration background from an option to election, the proportion of MPs with a reference to origin to Muslim countries is even less.

The proportion of women in the new parliament is also less than a third. Cem Ince, a 32-year-old VW worker and newly elected MP for the Left, expresses that it is twice as difficult for migrant people to be running and elected. Ince, which is rooted in the union milieu, wants to work for the concerns of people with a migration background.

opinions and challenges

Saliha Aydan Özoğuz, an SPD MP from Hamburg, reported assumptions and false claims on social networks. After 16 years of federal politics, she has taken a sobering record and emphasizes the difficulties of motivating young people with a migration background to political participation. Alaa Alhamwi, a newly elected member of the Greens, criticizes the underrepresentation of people with a history of migration in the Bundestag and demands more support and a welcome culture of political parties. He refers to a "multiple fold statute" of the Greens, which, with 20 percent, represents the highest proportion of MPs with migration history in the new Bundestag.

migration sociologist Deniz Nergiz confirmed that the emotionally charged political atmosphere keeps many people from running for political offices. Despite these challenges, Ince, Alhamwi and Özoğuz have moved into the new Bundestag and emphasize the need to fight for diversity.

Additional figures further prove the situation: According to the Media service integration have around 11.6 percent of the deputies in the new Bundestag Around 73 out of a total of 630 MPs. The proportion is similar to the last survey 2021 (11.3 percent). In the population, the proportion of people with a migration background is 29.7 percent, among eligible voters at 14.4 percent.

A look at the differences between the parties shows that the Greens with 20 percent (2021: 14.4 percent) have the highest proportion of MPs with a migration background. The left follows 18.8 percent (2021: 28.2 percent) and the SPD with 17.5 percent (2021: 17 percent). While CDU/CSU come to 6.3 percent (2021: 4.1 percent) and the AfD to 5.9 percent (2021: 7.2 percent).

women provide 47.2 percent of MPs with a migration background compared to a total share of 32.4 percent in the Bundestag. The average age of these MPs is 42.1 years. According to the data collected, 5 MPs with a migration background from East German constituencies, 4 from Berlin, 25 of which have a connection to EU countries, 19 to Turkey and 8 to ex-Soviet states. Turkish -born people are comparatively well represented in parliament, while people with references to the former Soviet Union are underrepresented.