Most Germans Think Migrant Flow Hit Capacity Limit Despite 'Welcome Culture'

A majority of Germans believe two years of immigration have pushed the country’s capacity to its limit, though still welcome skilled workers, a study out Friday has found.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A report by the Bertelsmann Foundation, based on Emnid polls, has revealed 54 percent of Germans now think their country cannot take in any more immigrants, up more than 10 points since 2015.

The study also concluded that the nation’s "welcome culture" had survived the 2015 stress test when some one million refugees of mostly Middle Eastern and North African origins sought shelter from war and poverty.

A solid majority of over 73 percent of those polled said the German population welcomed qualified immigrants, a rise of 24 percent since the first such poll was conducted in 2012. A third of those sampled said skilled immigrants could help the country deal with labor shortages.

Refugees received a cooler welcome from German natives, the 2017 study revealed, with 59 percent saying they were accepted by the locals. This was the first time in the history of the poll that this demographic were viewed as a separate category.

Still, a vast majority said immigration was a burden for the social welfare system. With seventy-two percent fearing it caused tension in society, and 65 percent complaining about the impact it has on the housing market and school education system.