AfD Wins 20.8% in Germany's 2025 Vote as Economic Stagnation Deepens
Updated
Updated · The American Prospect · Sep 11
AfD Wins 20.8% in Germany's 2025 Vote as Economic Stagnation Deepens
3 articles · Updated · The American Prospect · Sep 11
Summary
20.8% of the vote gave AfD 152 seats in Germany's 630-member Bundestag in 2025, making it the second-largest parliamentary group and official opposition.
8% real per capita growth between 2012 and 2025 underpins the surge, with the report arguing Germany's manufacturing-led model is faltering under Chinese competition and weak wage growth.
Volkswagen's crisis has sharpened that anxiety: IG Metall accepted 50,000 layoffs, another 50,000 job cuts by 2030 and four plant closures as Chinese automakers erode VW exports.
East Germany remains a core base after reunification's shock privatization wiped out thousands of industrial jobs; AfD support hit 44% in Saxony-Anhalt and has also spread westward.
Immigration hostility remains a factor, but the report says unresolved economic grievances are the stronger driver of far-right gains in Germany and other former industrial regions.