As retirement neared a decade ago, German butcher Waldemar Hackstaetter took stock of his finances and concluded he and wife Hildegard couldn't afford to remain in their home country.
![Germanys other migration wave: the pensioner exodus](https://media.zenfs.com/en-US/reuters.com/92b44b30388bd520b3bea12beebc44b5)
"The month stretched further than our pension did (in Germany) and we didn't want to become a burden to our children," 78-year-old Waldemar said.
Since they left, Germany's
economy has prospered, drawing a steady flow of immigrants that peaked with over a million who crossed its borders at the invitation of Chancellor
Angela Merkel during the refugee crisis of 2015.