Demographics of Germany

Demographics of Germany
Population from 1800 to 2000. The figures of the FRG and the GDR are combined.[1]
Population	82,175,700 (31 December 2015)[2]
Growth rate	1.2 (2015)
Birth rate	9.0 births/1,000 population (2015)[3]
Death rate	11.3 deaths/1,000 population (2015)[3]
Life expectancy	81 years (2015)
• male	79 years
• female	83 years
Fertility rate	1.50 children born/woman (2015)[4]
Infant mortality rate	3.46 deaths/1,000 live births (2014)
Net migration rate	1.06 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2014)
Sex ratio
Total	0.97 male(s)/female (2015)
At birth	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years	1.02 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.76 male(s)/female
Nationality
Nationality	noun: German(s) adjective: German
Major ethnic	Germans
Language
Spoken	German, others

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1950	69,346,000	—
1960	73,147,000	+5.5%
1970	78,069,000	+6.7%
1980	78,397,000	+0.4%
1990	79,753,000	+1.7%
2000	82,260,000	+3.1%
2011	80,328,000	−2.3%
2016	82,800,000	+3.1%
Source: DESTATIS

The demography of Germany is monitored by the Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office of Germany). According to the first census since the reunification, Germany's population was counted to be 80,219,695 on May 9, 2011,^[5] making it the 16th most populous country in the world. Although having since the 1970s achieved a fertility rate below the replacement level, Germany has so far been unable to address its overpopulation problem, that makes it impossible to feed its population sustainably from own arable land while preserving nature.^[6] The total fertility rate has been rated around 1.4 in 2010^[7][8] (the highest value since 1990^[7]) and has in 2011 even been estimated at 1.6 after accounting for the fact that older women contribute more to the number of births than in previous statistic models, and total fertility rates increased in younger generations.^[9] In 2008 fertility was related to educational achievement (with the less educated women having more children than the educated ones).^[10] In 2011 this was no longer true for Eastern Germany where college educated women now had a somewhat higher fertility rate than the rest of the population.^[11] Persons who adhere to no religion have fewer children than Christians, and studies also found that among Christians the more conservative ones had more children than the more liberal ones.^[12][13] In vitro fertilisation is legal in Germany, with an age limit set at 40.^[14]

The United Nations Population Fund lists Germany as host to the second-highest number of international migrants worldwide, behind the US at number one.^[15] More than 16 million people are of foreign/immigrant descent (first and second generation, including mixed heritage and ethnic German repatriates and their descendants). 96.1% of those reside in western Germany and Berlin.^[16] About seven million of them are foreign residents, which is defined as those not having German citizenship. The largest ethnic group of non-German origin are the Turkish. Since the 1960s, West and later reunified Germany has been attracting migrants primarily from Southern and Eastern Europe as well as Turkey, many of whom (or their children) over time acquired German citizenship. While most of these immigrants arrived as guest workers, Germany has also been a prime destination for refugees who have applied for asylum in Germany, in part because the German constitution long had a clause guaranteeing political asylum as a human right, but restrictions over the years have since limited the scope.

Germany has one of the world's highest levels of education, technological development, and economic productivity. Since the end of World War II, the number of students entering universities has more than tripled, and the trade and technical schools are among the world's best. With a per capita PPP income of about $41,370 in 2012,^[8] Germany is a broadly middle class society. However, there has been a strong increase in the number of children living in poverty. Whereas in 1965 one in 75 children was on the welfare rolls, in 2007 one child in 6 was – although it should be noted that these children live in relative poverty, but not necessarily in absolute poverty.^[17] Germans also are very mobile; millions travel abroad each year. The social welfare system provides for universal health care, unemployment compensation, child benefits and other social programmes. Due to Germany's aging population and struggling economy, the welfare system came under a lot of strain in the 1990s. This led the government to adopt a wide-ranging programme of belt-tightening reforms, Agenda 2010, including the labour market reforms known as Hartz I - IV.

History

The contemporary demographics of Germany are also measured by a series of full censuses, with the most recent held in 1987. Since reunification, German authorities rely on a micro census.

Statistics since 1900

Population statistics since 1900.^[18] Territorial changes of Germany occurred in 1918/1919, 1921/1922 and 1945/1946.

Fertility is not shown before 1950. Notable features before that time are fertility being extremely low during the ending years of the Weimar Republic, when it dropped down to about 1.6 child per woman in 1933.

	Average population	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Fertility rates[19][20]	Fertility rates FRG[19]	Fertility rates GDR[19]
1900	54 326 000	1 944 139	1 199 382	744 757	35.8	22.1	13.7
1901	55 144 000	1 980 313	1 140 489	839 824	35.9	20.7	15.2
1902	56 017 000	1 971 735	1 088 492	883 243	35.2	19.4	15.8
1903	56 869 000	1 931 078	1 135 905	795 173	34.0	20.0	14.0
1904	57 695 000	1 972 847	1 128 183	844 664	34.2	19.6	14.6
1905	58 514 000	1 935 153	1 158 314	776 839	33.1	19.8	13.3
1906	59 343 000	1 970 477	1 078 202	892 275	33.2	18.2	15.0
1907	60 183 000	1 948 933	1 084 309	864 624	32.4	18.0	14.4
1908	61 023 000	1 964 052	1 100 490	863 562	32.2	18.0	14.2
1909	61 857 000	1 929 278	1 062 217	867 061	31.2	17.2	14.9
1910	62 698 000	1 876 778	1 016 665	860 113	29.9	16.2	13.7
1911	63 469 000	1 824 729	1 097 784	726 945	28.7	17.3	11.5
1912	64 236 000	1 823 636	1 000 749	822 887	28.4	15.6	12.8
1913	65 058 000	1 794 750	975 950	818 800	27.6	15.0	12.6
1914	65 860 000	1 775 596	1 246 310	529 286	27.0	18.9	8.0
1915	65 953 000	1 353 546	1 410 420	-56 874	20.5	21.4	-0.9
1916	65 795 000	1 005 484	1 258 054	-252 570	15.3	19.1	-3.8
1917	65 450 000	912 109	1 345 424	-433 315	13.9	20.6	-6.6
1918	64 800 000	926 813	1 606 475	-679 662	14.3	24.8	-10.5
1919	62 897 000	1 260 500	978 380	282 120	20.0	15.6	4.5
1920	61 794 000	1 599 287	932 929	666 358	25.9	15.1	10.8
1921	62 473 000	1 581 130	869 555	711 575	25.3	13.9	11.4
1922	61 890 000	1 425 000	890 000	535 000	23.0	14.4	8.6
1923	62 250 000	1 318 000	867 000	451 000	21.2	13.9	7.2
1924	62 740 000	1 291 000	767 000	524 000	20.6	12.2	8.4
1925	63 110 000	1 311 000	753 000	558 000	20.8	11.9	8.8
1926	63 510 000	1 245 000	743 000	502 000	19.6	11.7	7.9
1927	63 940 000	1 179 000	765 000	414 000	18.4	12.0	6.5
1928	64 470 000	1 200 000	747 000	453 000	18.6	11.6	7.0
1929	64 670 000	1 164 000	815 000	349 000	18.0	12.6	5.4
1930	65 130 000	1 144 000	719 000	425 000	17.6	11.0	6.5
1931	65 510 000	1 048 000	734 000	314 000	16.0	11.2	4.8
1932	65 716 000	993 000	708 000	285 000	15.1	10.8	4.3
1933	66 027 000	971 000	738 000	233 000	14.7	11.2	3.5
1934	66 409 000	1 198 350	725 000	473 000	18.0	10.9	7.1
1935	66 871 000	1 263 976	792 018	471 958	18.9	11.8	7.1
1936	67 349 000	1 278 583	795 793	482 790	19.0	11.8	7.2
1937	67 831 000	1 277 046	794 367	482 679	18.8	11.7	7.1
1938	68 424 000	1 348 534	799 220	549 314	19.7	11.7	8.0
1939	69 314 000	1 413 230	854 348	558 882	20.4	12.3	8.1
1940	69 838 000	1 402 258	885 591	516 667	20.1	12.7	7.4
1941	70 244 000	1 308 232	844 435	463 797	18.6	12.0	6.6
1942	70 834 000	1 055 915	847 861	208 054	14.9	12.0	2.9
1943	70 411 000	1 124 718	853 246	271 472	16.0	12.1	3.9
1944	69 000 000	1 215 000	915 000	300 000	17.6	13.3	4.3
1945	66 000 000	1 060 000	1 210 000	-150 000	16.1	18.3	-2.3
1946	64 260 000	921 998	1 001 331	-79 333	14.3	15.6	-1.2		1.89	1.30
1947	65 842 000	1 028 421	932 628	95 793	15.6	14.2	1.5		2.01	1.75
1948	67 365 000	1 049 074	804 839	244 235	15.6	11.9	3.6		2.07	1.76
1949	68 080 000	1 106 803	770 852	335 951	16.3	11.3	4.9	2.11	2.14	2.03
1950	68 374 000	1 116 835	748 329	368 506	16.3	10.9	5.4	2.14	2.10	2.35
1951	68 882 000	1 106 608	752 697	353 911	16.1	10.9	5.1	2,16	2.06	2.46
1952	69 171 000	1 105 080	767 637	337 443	16.0	11.1	4.9	2.16	2.08	2.42
1953	69 564 000	1 095 096	790 654	304 442	15.7	11.4	4.4	2.15	2.07	2.40
1954	69 934 000	1 110 028	775 291	334 737	15.9	11.1	4.8	2.18	2.12	2.38
1955	70 307 000	1 113 128	795 938	317 190	15.8	11.3	4.5	2.18	2.11	2.38
1956	70 711 000	1 137 169	812 111	325 058	16.1	11.5	4.6	2.22	2.19	2.30
1957	71 166 000	1 165 555	840 195	325 360	16.4	11.8	4.6	2.28	2.28	2.24
1958	71 637 000	1 175 870	818 418	357 452	16.4	11.4	5.0	2.29	2.29	2.22
1959	72 180 000	1 243 922	835 402	408 520	17.2	11.6	5.7	2.36	2.34	2.37
1960	72 664 000	1 261 614	876 721	384 893	17.4	12.1	5.3	2.37	2.37	2.35
1961	73 352 000	1 313 505	850 300	463 205	17.9	11.6	6.3	2.45	2.47	2.42
1962	74 049 000	1 316 534	878 814	437 720	17.8	11.9	5.9	2.44	2.45	2.42
1963	75 019 000	1 355 595	895 070	460 525	18.1	11.9	6.1	2.51	2.52	2.47
1964	75 273 000	1 357 304	870 319	486 985	18.0	11.6	6.5	2.54	2.55	2.48
1965	76 061 000	1 325 386	907 882	417 504	17.4	11.9	5.5	2.50	2.51	2.48
1966	76 734 000	1 318 303	911 984	406 319	17.2	11.9	5.3	2.51	2.54	2.43
1967	76 954 000	1 272 276	914 417	357 859	16.5	11.9	4.7	2.48	2.54	2.34
1968	77 249 000	1 214 968	976 521	238 447	15.7	12.6	3.1	2.38	2.39	2.30
1969	77 918 000	1 142 368	988 092	154 276	14.7	12.7	2.0	2.21	2.20	2.24
1970	77 772 000	1 047 737	975 664	72 073	13.5	12.5	0.9	2.03	1.99	2.19
1971	78 355 000	1 013 396	965 623	47 773	12.9	12.3	0.6	1.96	1.92	2.13
1972	78 717 000	901 657	965 689	-64 032	11.5	12.3	-0.8	1.73	1.72	1.79
1973	78 951 000	815 969	963 034	-147 065	10.3	12.2	-1.9	1.56	1.54	1.58
1974	78 966 000	805 500	956 573	-151 073	10.2	12.1	-1.9	1.53	1.51	1.54
1975	78 862 000	782 310	989 649	-207 339	9.9	12.5	-2.6	1.48	1.45	1.54
1976	78 299 000	798 334	966 873	-168 539	10.2	12.3	-2.2	1.51	1.46	1.64
1977	78 161 000	805 496	931 155	-125 659	10.3	11.9	-1.6	1.51	1.40	1.85
1978	78 066 000	808 619	955 550	-146 931	10.4	12.2	-1.9	1.50	1.38	1.90
1979	78 082 000	817 217	944 474	-127 257	10.5	12.1	-1.6	1.50	1.39	1.90
1980	78 295 000	865 789	952 371	-86 582	11.1	12.2	-1.1	1.56	1.44	1.94
1981	78 399 000	862 100	954 436	-92 336	11.0	12.2	-1.2	1.53	1.43	1.85
1982	78 293 000	861 275	943 832	-82 557	11.0	12.1	-1.1	1.51	1.41	1.86
1983	78 082 000	827 933	941 032	-113 099	10.6	12.1	-1.4	1.43	1.33	1.79
1984	77 797 000	812 292	917 299	-105 007	10.4	11.8	-1.3	1.39	1.29	1.74
1985	77 619 000	813 803	929 649	-115 846	10.5	12.0	-1.5	1.37	1.28	1.73
1986	77 635 000	848 231	925 411	-77 180	10.9	11.9	-1.0	1.41	1.34	1.70
1987	77 718 000	867 969	901 291	-33 322	11.2	11.6	-0.4	1.43	1.37	1.74
1988	78 116 000	892 993	900 627	-7 634	11.4	11.5	-0.1	1.46	1.41	1.67
1989	78 677 000	880 459	903 441	-22 103	11.2	11.5	-0.3	1.42	1.39	1.56
1990	79 365 000	905 675	914 361	-8 686	11.4	11.5	-0.1	1.454	1.450	1.518
1991	79 984 000	830 019	911 245	-81 226	10.4	11.4	-1.0	1.332	1.422	0.977
1992	80 570 000	809 114	885 443	-76 329	10.0	11.0	-0.9	1.292	1.402	0.830
1993	81 187 000	798 447	897 270	-98 823	9.8	11.1	-1.2	1.278	1.393	0.775
1994	81 422 000	769 603	884 659	-115 056	9.5	10.9	-1.4	1.243	1.347	0.772
1995	81 661 000	765 221	884 588	-119 367	9.4	10.8	-1.5	1.249	1.339	0.838
1996	81 896 000	796 013	882 843	-86 830	9.7	10.8	-1.1	1.316	1.396	0.948
1997	82 061 000	812 173	860 389	-48 216	9.9	10.5	-0.6	1.369	1.441	1.039
1998	82 024 000	785 034	852 382	-67 348	9.6	10.4	-0.8	1.355	1.413	1.087
1999	82 101 000	770 744	846 330	-75 586	9.4	10.3	-0.9	1.361	1.406	1.148
2000	82 213 000	766 999	838 797	-71 798	9.3	10.2	-0.9	1.378	1.413	1.214
2001	82 350 000	734 475	828 541	-94 066	8.9	10.1	-1.1	1.349	1.382	1.231
2002	82 489 000	719 250	841 673	-122 423	8.7	10.2	-1.5	1.341	1.371	1.238
2003	82 541 000	706 721	853 946	-147 225	8.6	10.3	-1.8	1.340	1.364	1.264
2004	82 517 000	705 622	818 271	-112 649	8.6	9.9	-1.4	1.355	1.372	1.307
2005	82 470 000	685 795	830 227	-144 432	8.3	10.1	-1.8	1.340	1.355	1.295
2006	82 377 000	672 724	821 627	-148 903	8.2	10.0	-1.8	1.331	1.341	1.303
2007	82 267 000	684 862	827 155	-142 293	8.3	10.1	-1.7	1.370	1.375	1.366
2008	82 110 000	682 514	844 439	-161 925	8.3	10.3	-2.1	1.376	1.374	1.404
2009	81 901 000	665 126	854 544	-189 418	8.1	10.4	-2.3	1.358	1.353	1.404
2010	81 751 000	677 947	858 768	-180 821	8.3	10.5	-2.2	1.393	1.385	1.459
2011	80 233 100	662 685	852 328	-189 643	8.2	10.6	-2.4	1.390	1.38	1.46
2012	80 399 000	673 544	869 582	-196 038	8.4	10.8	-2.4	1.406	1.40	1.48
2013	80 767 000	682 069	893 825	-211 756	8.5	11.1	-2.6	1.419	1.41	1.49
2014	81 198 000	714 966	868 373	-153 407	8.8	10.7	-1.9	1.475	1.44	1.54
2015	82 175 700	737 575	925 200	-187 625	9.0	11.3	-2.3	1.50	1.50	1.56
2016	82 800 000

Natural increase

• Number of births January–September 2015 = 555,857
• Number of births January–September 2016 = 595,561
• Number of deaths January–September 2015 = 702,336
• Number of deaths January–September 2016 = 673,199
• Natural population growth January–September 2015 = -146,479
• Natural population growth January–September 2016 = -77,638

1945–1990

After the World War II border shifts and expulsions, the Germans from Central and Eastern Europe and the former eastern territories moved westward to post-war Germany. During the partition of Germany, many Germans from East Germany fled to West Germany for political and also economic reasons. Since Germany's reunification, there are ongoing migrations from the eastern New Länder to the western Old Länder for economic reasons.

The federal republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic followed different paths when it came to demographics. The politics of ther German Democratic Republic was pronatalistic^[21] while that of the Federal Republic was compensatory. Fertility in the GDR was higher than that in the FRG. Demographic politics was only one of the reasons. Women in the GDR had less "biographic options", young motherhood was expected of them. State funded costfree childcare was available to all mothers.^[22]

1990–today

About 1.7 million people have left the new federal states since the fall of the Berlin Wall, or 12% of the population,^[23] a disproportionately high number of them were women under 35.^[24]

After 1990, the total fertility rate (TFR) in the East dropped to 0.772 in 1994. This has been attributed to the fact that there was a "demographic shock" (people not only had less children, they also were less likely to marry or divorce after the end of the GDR) the biographic options of the citizens of the former GDR had increased. Young motherhood seemed to be less attractive and the age of the first birth rose sharply.^[22]

In the following years, the TFR in the East Germany started rising again, surpassing 1.0 in 1997 and 1.3 in 2004, reaching the West's TFR in 2007 (1.37). In 2010, the East's fertility rate (1.459) clearly exceeded that of the West (1.385), while Germany's overall TFR has risen to 1.393, the highest value since 1990^[7][25] - which is still far below the natural replacement rate of 2.1 and the birth rates seen under communism. In 2015 the TFR of East Germany was 1.56, while TFR in the West – 1.50.^[26]

Between 1989 and 2009, about 2,000 schools closed because of a scarcity of children.^[23]

In some regions the number of women between the ages of 20 and 30 has dropped by more than 30%.^[23] In 2004, in the age group 18-29 (statistically important for starting families) there were only 90 women for every 100 men in the new federal states (including Berlin).

Until 2007 family politics in the federal republic was compensatory, which means that poor families received more family benefits (such as the Erziehungsgeld) than rich ones. In 2007 the so-called "Elterngeld" was introduced. According to Christoph Butterwegge the Elterngeld was meant to "motivate highly educated women to have more children", the poor on the other hand were disadvantaged by the Elterngeld, receiving now less child benefits than the middle classes.^[27] The very well-off (who earn more than 250.000 Euro per annum) and those on welfare receive no Elterngeld payments.^[28]

In 2013 the following most recent developments were noticed:^[29]

• The income of families having young children has risen. Persons holding a college degree, persons older than 30 years and parents with only one child benefited the most. Single parents and young parents did not benefit
• Fathers are becoming more involved in parenting, and 28% of them now take some time off their jobs (3.3 months on average) when their children are born.
• Mothers are more likely to work and as a result less likely to be economically deprived than they used to.
• The birth rate of college educated women has risen.

In the new federal states the birth rate of college educated women is now higher than that of those without college degrees. Differences in value priorities and the better availability of childcare in the eastern states are discussed as a possible reason.^[30]

Geography

With an estimated more than 81.8 million inhabitants in late 2011,^[31] Germany is the most populous country in the European Union and ranks as the 16th largest country in the world in terms of population. Its population density stands at 229.4 inhabitants per square kilometer.

States

Germany comprises sixteen states that are collectively referred to as Länder.^[32] Due to differences in size and population the subdivision of these states varies, especially between city states (Stadtstaaten) and states with larger territories (Flächenländer). For regional administrative purposes five states, namely Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, consist of a total of 22 Government Districts (Regierungsbezirke). As of 2009 Germany is divided into 403 districts (Kreise) on municipal level, these consist of 301 rural districts and 102 urban districts.^[33]

Cities

Berlin Hamburg Munich (München)	Rank	City	Federal state	Population	Cologne (Köln) Frankfurt am Main Stuttgart
	1	Berlin	Berlin	3,670,622
	2	Hamburg	Hamburg	1,787,408
	3	Munich	Bavaria	1,450,381
	4	Cologne	North Rhine-Westphalia	1,060,582
	5	Frankfurt am Main	Hesse	732,688
	6	Stuttgart	Baden-Württemberg	623,738
	7	Düsseldorf	North Rhine-Westphalia	612.178
	8	Dortmund	North Rhine-Westphalia	586,181
	9	Essen	North Rhine-Westphalia	582,624
	10	Leipzig	Saxony	560,472
	11	Bremen	Bremen	557,464
	12	Dresden	Saxony	543,825
	13	Hanover	Lower Saxony	532,163
	14	Nuremberg	Bavaria	509,975
	15	Duisburg	North Rhine-Westphalia	491,231
			Source: Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder[35]

Metropolitan regions

Germany officially has eleven metropolitan regions. In 2005, Germany had 82 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Metropolitan region	Location	Description	Population	Notes
Rhine-Ruhr		The metropolitan area is part of the pan-European Blue Banana mega region and is a significant industrial and commercial hub, home to many of Germany's biggest corporations and contributing as much as 15% to the German GDP. Included in the rather polycentric conurbation are the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bonn, Dortmund and Essen served by two of the countries largest airports Düsseldorf Airport and the Cologne Bonn Airport. Particularly among young Germans, Cologne and Düsseldorf are known for their nightlife and open-minded atmosphere.	approx. 10 million	Düsseldorf is home for the largest Japanese community in Germany, Cologne is famous for its Carneval festivities and also home to a significant number of Germany's LGBT community.
Berlin/Brandenburg		Berlin is the capital and largest city. It lies in the eastern part of the country, completely surrounded by the rather sparsely populated state of Brandenburg. Berlin is regarded as one of Europe's most open, vibrant and ever changing capitals. The city is arguably the most diverse city in Germany regarding culture and ethnicity. Regarded as an economically weak region of Germany for a long time, it is now transforming itself into the entrepreneurial center of Europe. Dubbed the "Silicon Allee" by insiders of the tech industry, Berlin is home to countless startup companies and one of Germany's densest knowledge hubs with 4 public universities and countless research centers.	approx. 6 million	Home to over 200,000 people of Turkish descent, it is the single largest Turkish community outside of Turkey. Berlin also houses Germany's largest Vietnamese and African community and is one of the world's most famous LGBT-friendly city.
Munich		The metropolitan area in and around Munich has one of Germany's highest standard of living. Housing some of the countries largest car and machine companies, it is known for its economic strength mixed with the uniqueness of Bavarian culture, taking up almost the entirety of southern Bavaria. It is the closest metropolitan area to the Alps.	approx. 5.7 million	-
Rhine-Main		Frankfurt is the financial and commercial center both for Germany and continental Europe. Almost all of Germany's big banks and the ECB have their HQ located inside the city of Frankfurt. Despite not having a population of over a million, it is Germany's only city with a large, visible cluster of skyscrapers. The city is one of Europe's biggest transit hubs with Europe's 4th busiest airport (Frankfurt airport), Germany's second busiest railway stations and one of the EU's most heavily used interchanges.	approx. 5.5 million	-
Hamburg		Hamburg is the country's second largest city and the biggest Hanseatic city in Europe. It is Europe's 3rd busiest container port with just under 9 million TEUs annually. The city is proud of its diverse nightlife and music scene centered in and around the famous St. Pauli district.	approx. 5.3 million	Turks
Stuttgart		Stuttgart has a reputation for research, inventions and industry. The German headquarters of many international enterprises are in Stuttgart. This contrasts with the strong rural, down-to-earth attitude of the Stuttgarters throughout the classes. A popular slogan is "We are good at everything. Except speaking High (standard) German."	approx. 5.2 million	Turks, Greeks, Dutch, Italians, Croats, Serbs, French, Chinese, Romanians, Americans and Spaniards.
Hannover–Braunschweig–Göttingen–Wolfsburg		The relatively urban south of Lower Saxony, located on route between the Ruhr area and Berlin, and the route form Hamburg to the south, has been important for logistics, industry, but also developed a strong standing in the service industries.	approx. 3.7 million	Turks, Kurds (especially around Celle), Serbs, Ukrainians, Greeks, Russians, Italians (especially in Wolfsburg) and Spanish (Especially in Hanover).
Bremen/Oldenburg		Located in the northwestern part of Germany, the main axis contains the cities of Bremen, Delmenhorst and Oldenburg, with the cities of Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven being the northern corners at the north sea. Major rural areas are covered in between these cities. There is a smooth transition to the Hamburg metropolitan area to the east.	approx. 2.7 million	Turks, Russians, Albanians, Serbs, Portuguese, Iranians, Dutch, Americans and Britons.
Central German Metropolitan Region		Also dubbed "City of Heroes", Leipzig is where the 1989 revolution that brought down the Berlin Wall started. Today totally refurbished, it sports Europe's highest density of Art Nouveau architecture. Very lively bar scene, fastest growing economy in Germany.	approx. 2.4 mil	Vietnamese, Indians, Russians, Portuguese, Italians, Poles, Iranians, Turks, Dutch, Arabs and Pakistanis.

Population

Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Population

82,175,700 (2015 estimate)

Age structure

• 0–14 years: 13.9% (male 5,894,724; female 5,590,373)
• 15–64 years: 66.1% (male 27,811,357/female 26,790,222)
• 65 years and over: 19.6% (male 6,771,972/female 9,542,348) (2015 est.)
• 0–14 years: 13.7% (male 5,768,366/female 5,470,516)
• 15–64 years: 66.1% (male 27,707,761/female 26,676,759)
• 65 years and over: 20.3% (male 7,004,805/female 9,701,551) (2010 est.)

Sex ratio

• at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
• under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
• 15–64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.72 male(s)/female
• total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2010 est.)

Infant mortality rate

4.09 deaths per 1,000 live births (2007)

total: 3.99 deaths/1,000 live births (2010)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 81 years (2015)

80 (2013)

Total fertility rate

1.38 children born/woman (2008)

1.42 children born/woman (2013)

1.43 children born/woman (2014)

While most childbirths in Germany happen within marriage, a growing number of children are born out-of-wedlock. In 2010 the out-of-wedlock-rate was 33%, more than twice of what it was in 1990.^[36]

The Mikrozensus done in 2008 revealed that the number of children a German woman aged 40 to 75 had, was closely linked to her educational achievement.^[10] In Western Germany the most educated women were the most likely to be childless. 26% of those groups stated they were childless, while 16% of those having an intermediate education, and 11% of those having compulsory education, stated the same. In Eastern Germany however, 9% of the most educated women of that age group and 7% of those who had an intermediary education were childless, while 12% of those having only compulsory education were childless.

The reason for that east-western difference is that the GDR had an "educated mother scheme" and actively tried to encourage first births among the more educated. It did so by propagandizing the opinion that every educated woman should "present at least one child to socialism" and also by financially rewarding its more educated citizen to become parents. The government especially tried to persuade students to become parents while still in college and it was quite successful in doing so. In 1986 38% of all women, who were about to graduate from college, were mothers of at least one child and additional 14% were pregnant and 43% of all men, who were about to graduate from college, were fathers of at least one child. There was a sharp decline in the birth rate and especially in the birth rate of the educated after the fall of the Berlin wall. Nowadays, 5% of those about to graduate from college are parents.

The more educated a Western German mother aged 40 to 75 was in 2008, the less likely she was to have a big family.

Percent of Western German mothers having 1, 2 and 3 or more children by educational attainment
number of children	compulsory education	intermediary education	highest education
one child	22	30	31
two children	39	48	48
three or more children	39	22	21
[37]

The same was true for a mother living in Eastern Germany in 2008.

Percent of Eastern German mothers having 1, 2 and 3 and more children by educational attainment
number of children	compulsory education	intermediary education	highest education
one child	23	33	33
two children	37	46	51
three or more children	40	21	16
[37]

A study done in 2005 in the western German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen by the HDZ revealed that childlessness was especially widespread among scientists. It showed that 78% of the women scientists and 71% of the male scientists working in that state were childless.^[38]

Migrant background and foreign nationality

Foreign nationals in Germany

As of 2016, the numbers of selected groups of resident foreign nationals (non-naturalized residents) in Germany were as follows:

This list does not include foreigners with German nationality and foreign nationals without resident status.

Rank	Nationality	Population (2016)[41]	% of foreign nationals
	Total	10,039,080	100
1	Turkey	1,492,580	14.9
2	Poland	783,085	7.8
3	Syria	637,845	6.4
4	Italy	611,450	6.1
5	Romania	533,660	5.3
6	Greece	348,475	3.5
7	Croatia	332,605	3.3
8	Bulgaria	263,320	2.6
9	Afghanistan	253,485	2.5
10	Russia	245,380	2.4
11	Iraq	227,195	2.3
12	Serbia	223,100	2.2
13	Hungary	192,340	1.9
14	Austria	183,625	1.8
15	Bosnia and Herzegovina	172,560	1.7
16	Spain	163,560	1.6
17	Netherlands	149,160	1.5
18	Ukraine	136,340	1.4
19	Portugal	136,080	1.4
20	France	130,915	1.3

Migrationshintergrund/ Migrant background

The Federal Statistical Office defines persons with a migrant background as all persons who migrated to the present area of the Federal Republic of Germany after 1949, plus all foreign nationals born in Germany and all persons born in Germany as German nationals with at least one parent who migrated to Germany or was born in Germany as a foreign national. The figures presented here are based on this definition only.

In 2010, 2.3 million families with children under 18 years were living in Germany, in which at least one parent had foreign roots. They represented 29% of the total of 8.1 million families with minor children. Compared with 2005 – the year when the microcensus started to collect detailed information on the population with a migrant background – the proportion of migrant families has risen by 2 percentage points.^[42]

Most of the families with a migrant background live in the western part of Germany. In 2010, the proportion of migrant families in all families was 32% in the former territory of the Federal Republic. This figure was more than double that in the new Länder (incl. Berlin) where it stood at 15%.^[42]

Families with a migrant background more often have three or more minor children in the household than families without a migrant background. In 2010, about 15% of the families with a migrant background contained three or more minor children, as compared with just 9% of the families without a migrant background.^[42]

In 2009, 3.0 million of the persons of immigrant background had Turkish roots, 2.9 million had their roots in the successor states of the Soviet Union (including a large number of Russian-speaking ethnic Germans), 1.5 million had their roots in the successor states of Yugoslavia and 1.5 million had Polish roots.^[43]

In 2008, 18.4% of Germans of any age group and 30% of German children had at least one parent born abroad. Median age for Germans with at least one parent born abroad was 33.8 years, while that for Germans, who had two parents born in Germany was 44.6 years.^[44]

Germany is home to the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide after the United States and Russia.^[45]

As of 2016, the population by background was as follows:^[47]

Population composition	%	Population[47]
European	89.3	73,620,000
European Union	85.4	70,437,000
German (Including ethnic German repatriates)[46]	81.3	67,027,000
Polish	2.3	1,868,000
Italian	1.0	861,000
Romanian	0.9	788,000
Greek	0.5	443,000
Other EU member states (primarily Spanish, Croatian, Dutch, Portuguese and Austrians)	3.2	2,638,000
European Other	3.9	3,174,000
Russian	1.5	1,223,000
Others (primarily former Yugoslavian, excluding Croatia and Slovenia)	2.0	1,652,000
Middle Eastern/Northern African	6.6	5,448,000
Turkish (including Turkish Kurds)	3.4	2,797,000
Arabs	1.8	1,518,000
Others (primarily Iranian)	0.2	164,000
Sub-Saharan African (primarily Nigerian, Somali, Eritrean, Ghanaian)	0.5	396,000
East Asian and South/Southeast Asian	1.4	1,119,000
Vietnamese	0.2	167,000
Chinese	0.2	157,000
Others (primarily Indians, Afghans and Pakistani)	0.9	795,000
Americas	0.5	421,000
Americans	0.2	154,000
Australia/Oceania	<0.1	40,000
Other/unspecified/mixed	0.9	748,000
Total population	100	82,425,000

• 
  Simone Hauswald has Migrationshintergrund due to one side of her parents being foreign-born
• 
  Mesut Özil is classified as having a migrant background because both of his parents were born in Turkey
• 
  Helene Fischer has a migrant background despite being ethnically German because she was born in the Soviet Union to parents of the German minority in Russia.

Four other sizable groups of people are referred to as "national minorities" (nationale Minderheiten) because they have lived in their respective regions for centuries: Danes, Frisians, Roma and Sinti, and Sorbs. There is a Danish minority (about 50,000, according to government sources) in the northern-most state of Schleswig-Holstein. Eastern and Northern Frisians live at Schleswig-Holstein's western coast, and in the north-western part of Lower Saxony. They are part of a wider community (Frisia) stretching from Germany to the northern Netherlands. The Sorbs, a Slavic people with about 60,000 members (according to government sources), are in the Lusatia region of Saxony and Brandenburg. They are the last remnants of the Slavs that lived in central and eastern Germany since the 7th century to have kept their traditions and not been completely integrated into the wider German nation.

Until World War II the Poles were recognized as one of the national minorities. In 1924 the Union of Poles in Germany had initiated cooperation between all national minorities in Germany under the umbrella organization Association of National Minorities in Germany. Some of the union members wanted the Polish communities in easternmost Germany (now Poland) to join the newly established Polish nation after World War I. Even before the German invasion of Poland, leading anti-Nazi members of the Polish minority were deported to concentration camps; some were executed at the Piaśnica murder site. Minority rights for Poles in Germany were revoked by Hermann Göring's World War II decree of 27 February 1940, and their property was confiscated.

After the war ended, the German government did not re-implement national minority rights for ethnic Poles. The reason for this is that the areas of Germany which formerly had a native Polish minority were annexed to Poland and the Soviet Union, while almost all of the native German populations (formerly the ethnic majority) in these areas subsequently fled or were expelled by force. With the mixed German-Polish territories now lost, the German government subsequently regarded ethnic Poles residing in what remained of Germany as immigrants, just like any other ethnic population with a recent history of arrival. In contrast, Germans living in Poland are recognized as national minority and have granted seats in Polish Parliament.^[48][49] It must be said, however, that an overwhelming number of Germans in Poland have centuries-old historical ties to the lands they now inhabit, whether from living in territory that once belonged to the German state, or from centuries-old communities. In contrast, most Poles in present-day Germany are recent immigrants, though there are some communities which have been present since the 19th and perhaps even the 18th centuries. Despite protests by some in the older Polish-German communities, and despite Germany being now a signatory to the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, Germany has so far refused to re-implement minority rights for ethnic Poles, based on the fact that almost all areas of historically mixed German-Polish heritage (where the minority rights formerly existed) are no longer part of Germany and because the vast majority of ethnic Poles now residing in Germany are recent immigrants.

Roma people have been in Germany since the Middle Ages. They were persecuted by the Nazis, and thousands of Roma living in Germany were killed by the Nazi regime. Nowadays, they are spread all over Germany, mostly living in major cities. It is difficult to estimate their exact number, as the German government counts them as "persons without migrant background" in their statistics. There are also many assimilated Sinti and Roma. A vague figure given by the German Department of the Interior is about 70,000. In the late 1990s, many Roma moved to Germany from Kosovo. In contrast to the old-established Roma population, the majority of them do not have German citizenship, they are classified as immigrants or refugees.

After World War II, 14 million ethnic Germans were expelled from the eastern territories of Germany and homelands outside the former German Empire. The accommodation and integration of these Heimatvertriebene in the remaining part of Germany, in which many cities and millions of apartments had been destroyed, was a major effort in the post-war occupation zones and later states of Germany.

Since the 1960s, ethnic Germans from the People's Republic of Poland and Soviet Union (especially from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine), have come to Germany. During the time of Perestroika, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the number of immigrants increased heavily. Some of these immigrants are of mixed ancestry. During the 10-year period between 1987 and 2001, a total of 1,981,732 ethnic Germans from the FSU immigrated to Germany, along with more than a million of their non-German relatives. After 1997, however ethnic Slavs or those belonging to Slavic-Germanic mixed origins outnumbered these with only Germanic descent amongst the immigrants. The total number of people currently living in Germany having FSU connection is around 4 to 4.5 million (Including Germans, Slavs, Jews and those of mixed origins), out of that more than 50% is of German descent.^[50][51]

Germany now has Europe's third-largest Jewish population. In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total inflow to more than 100,000 since 1991.^[52] Jews have a voice in German public life through the Central Council of Jews in Germany (Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland). Some Jews from the former Soviet Union are of mixed heritage.

In 2000 there were also around 300,000–500,000 Afro-Germans (those who have German citizenship)^[53] and 150,000+ African nationals. Most of them live in Berlin and Hamburg. Numerous persons from Tunisia and Morocco live in Germany. While they are considered members of a minority group, for the most part, they do not considers themselves "Afro-Germans," nor are most of them perceived as such by the German people. However, Germany does not keep any statistics regarding ethnicity or race. Hence, the exact number of Germans of African descent is unknown.

Germany's biggest East Asian minority are the Vietnamese people in Germany. About 40,000 Vietnamese live in Berlin and surroundings. Also there are about 20,000 to 25,000 Japanese people residing in Germany. Some South Asian and Southeast Asian immigration has taken place. Nearly 50,000 Indians live in Germany. As of 2008, there were 68,000 Filipino residents and an unknown number of Indonesians residing in Germany.^[54]

Numerous descendants of the so-called Gastarbeiter live in Germany. The Gastarbeiter mostly came from Chile, Greece, southern Italy, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey and the former Yugoslavia. Also included were Vietnam, Mongolia, North Korea, Angola, Mozambique and Cuba when the former East Germany existed until reunification in 1990.^[55] The (socialist) German Democratic Republic (East Germany) however had their guest-workers stay in single-sex dormitories.^[56] Female guest workers had to sign contracts saying that they were not allowed to fall pregnant during their stay. If they fell pregnant nevertheless they faced forced abortion or deportation.^[57] This is one of the reasons why the vast majority of ethnic minorities today lives in western Germany and also one of the reasons why minorities such as the Vietnamese have the most unusual population pyramid, with nearly all second-generation Vietnamese Germans born after 1989.

Genetics

The most common male haplogroup among Germans is Haplogroup R1b, followed by Haplogroup I1, and Haplogroup R1a.^[58]

Immigration

In its State of World Population 2006 report, the United Nations Population Fund lists Germany with hosting the third-highest percentage of the main international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 10 million of all 191 million migrants.^[59] Germany had previously signed special visa agreements with several countries in times of severe labour shortages or when particular skills were deficient within the country. During the 60s & 70s, agreements were signed with the governments of Turkey, Yugoslavia, Italy and Spain to help Germany overcome its severe labour shortage.

Currently, as of 2012, the largest sources of net immigration to Germany are other European countries, most importantly Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Greece; notably, in the case of Turkey, German Turks moving to Turkey slightly outnumber new immigrants.^[60]

In 2015 there were 476,649 asylum applications.^[61]

Education

Responsibility for educational oversight in Germany lies primarily with the individual federated states. Since the 1960s, a reform movement has attempted to unify secondary education into a Gesamtschule (comprehensive school); several West German states later simplified their school systems to two or three tiers. A system of apprenticeship called Duale Ausbildung ("dual education") allows pupils in vocational training to learn in a company as well as in a state-run vocational school.^[62]

Optional kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years old, after which school attendance is compulsory for at least nine years. Primary education usually lasts for four years and public schools are not stratified at this stage.^[62] In contrast, secondary education includes three traditional types of schools focused on different levels of academic ability: the Gymnasium enrols the most academically promising children and prepares students for university studies; the Realschule for intermediate students lasts six years; the Hauptschule prepares pupils for vocational education.^[63]

In addition Germany has a comprehensive school known as the Gesamtschule. While some German schools such as the Gymnasium and the Realschule have rather strict entrance requirements, the Gesamtschule does not have such requirements. They offer college preparatory classes for the students who are doing well, general education classes for average students, and remedial courses for those who aren't doing that well. In most cases students attending a Gesamtschule may graduate with the Hauptschulabschluss, the Realschulabschluss or the Abitur depending on how well they did in school. The percentage of students attending a Gesamtschule varies by Bundesland. In 2007 the State of Brandenburg more than 50% of all students attended a Gesamtschule,^[64] while in the State of Bavaria less than 1% did.

The general entrance requirement for university is Abitur, a qualification normally based on continuous assessment during the last few years at school and final examinations; however there are a number of exceptions, and precise requirements vary, depending on the state, the university and the subject. Germany's universities are recognised internationally; in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) for 2008, six of the top 100 universities in the world are in Germany, and 18 of the top 200.^[65] Nearly all German universities are public institutions, charging tuition fees of €50–500 per semester for each student.^[66]

Percentage of jobholders holding Hauptschulabschluss, Realschulabschluss or Abitur in Germany^[67]

	1970	1982	1991	2000
Hauptschulabschluss	87,7%	79,3%	66,5%	54,9%
Realschulabschluss	10,9%	17,7%	27%	34,1%
Abitur	1,4%	3%	6,5%	11%

Literacy

Over 99% of those of age 15 and above are estimated to be able to read and write. However, a growing number of inhabitants are functionally illiterate. The young are much more likely to be functionally illiterate than the old. According to a study done by the University of Bremen in coorporation with the "Bundesverband Alphabetisierung e.V.", 10% of youngsters living in Germany are functionally illiterate and one quarter are able to understand only basic level texts.^[68] Illiteracy rates of youngsters vary by ethnic group and parents' socioeconomic class.

Health

As of 2009, the principal cause of death was cardiovascular disease, at 42%, followed by malignant tumours, at 25%.^[69] As of 2008, about 82,000 Germans had been infected with HIV/AIDS and 26,000 had died from the disease (cumulatively, since 1982).^[70] According to a 2005 survey, 27% of German adults are smokers.^[70] A 2009 study shows Germany is near the median in terms of overweight and obese people in Europe.^[71]

Religion

The national constitutions of 1919 and 1949 guarantee freedom of faith and religion; earlier, these freedoms were mentioned only in state constitutions. The modern constitution of 1949 also states that no one may be discriminated against due to their faith or religious opinions. A state church does not exist in Germany (see Freedom of religion in Germany).^[72]

According to a 1990s Poll by Der Spiegel magazine, 45% of Germans believe in God, and a quarter in Jesus Christ.^[76] According to the 2005 Eurobarometer Poll, 47% of German citizens agreed with the statement "I believe there is a God", whereas 25% agreed with "I believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 25% said "I don't believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".^[77]

Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, with an estimated 61% of the country's population.^[78][79] The second largest religion is Islam, with between 2.1 and 4 million adherents (2.6% to 5%).^[78][79] Smaller religious groups (less than 1%) include Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism.^[78][79]

The two largest churches, the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), have lost significant number of adherents. In 2014 the Catholic Church accounted for 29.5%^[80] and the Evangelical Church for 27.9%^[81] of the population. Other Christian churches and groups summed up to 3.3%^[78] with estimations for the Orthodox Church between 1.3%^[79] and 1.9%.^[78] Since the reunification of Germany, the number of non-religious people has grown and an estimated 34% of the country's population are not affiliated with any church or religion.^[78][79]

The other religions make up to less than 1% of the population.^[78] Buddhism has around 200,000 adherents (0.2%), Judaism has around 200.000 adherents (0.2%), Hinduism 90,000 (0.1%), Sikhism 75,000 (0.1%) and Yazidi religion (45,000-60,000).^[82] All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 (<0.1%) adherents.

Protestantism is concentrated in the north and east and Roman Catholicism is concentrated in the south and west. According to the last nationwide census, Protestantism is more widespread among the population with German citizenship; there are slightly more Catholics total because of the Catholic immigrant population (including such groups as Poles and Italians).^[83] The former Pope, Benedict XVI, was born in Bavaria. Non-religious people, including atheists and agnostics, might make up as many as 55%, and are especially numerous in the former East Germany and major metropolitan areas.^[84]

Of the roughly 4 million Muslims, most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites and other denominations.^[85][86] 1.3% of the country's overall population declare themselves Orthodox Christians,^[79] with Serbs, Greeks, and Ukrainians, Russians being the most numerous.^[87] Germany has Europe's third-largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom).^[88] In 2004, twice as many Jews from former Soviet republics settled in Germany as in Israel, bringing the total Jewish population to more than 200,000, compared to 30,000 prior to German reunification. Large cities with significant Jewish populations include Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich.^[89] Around 250,000 active Buddhists live in Germany; 50% of them are Asian immigrants.^[90]

2011 Census

Census results:-

• Roman Catholic Church: 24,740,380 or 30.8% of the German population;
• Evangelical Church: 24,328,100 or 30.3% of the German population;
• Other, atheist or not specified (including Protestants outside EKD): 31,151,210 or 38.9% of the German population.^[83]

• 
  Evangelical population according to the 2011 Census
• 
  Catholic population according to the 2011 Census
• 
  Non-Christian population according to the 2011 Census (including other religions and not specified)
• 
  Predominant religious group according to the 2011 Census - Catholics are dominant in the south and west, the non-religious (including other religions and not specified) dominate in the east and the large cities and Protestants dominate in north, east, and central parts of Germany

Languages

German is the only official and most widely spoken language. Standard German is understood throughout the country.

Minority languages

Danish, Low German, the Sorbian languages (Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian), and the two Frisian languages, Saterfrisian and North Frisian, are officially recognized and protected as minority languages by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in their respective regions. With speakers of Romany living in all parts of Germany, the federal government has promised to take action to protect the language. Until now, only Hesse has followed Berlin's announcement, and agreed on implementing concrete measures to support Romany speakers.

Implementation of the Charter is poor. The monitoring reports on charter implementation in Germany show many provisions unfulfilled.

Protected Minority Languages in Germany

Language	States
Danish	Schleswig-Holstein
North Frisian	Schleswig-Holstein
Saterland Frisian	Lower Saxony
Low German	Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, North Rhine-Westphalia
Upper Sorbian	Saxony
Lower Sorbian	Brandenburg
Romany	Hesse de facto, de jure in all states (see text)

High German dialects

German dialects – some quite distinct from the standard language – are used in everyday speech, especially in rural regions. Many dialects, for example the Upper German varieties, are to some degree cultivated as symbols of regional identity and have their own literature, theaters and some TV programming. While speaking a dialect outside its native region might be frowned upon, in their native regions some dialects can be spoken by all social classes. . Nevertheless, partly due to the prevalence of Standard German in media, the use of dialects has declined over the past century, especially in the younger population.

The social status of different German dialects can vary greatly. The Alemannic and Bavarian dialects of the south are positively valued by their speakers and can be used in almost all social circumstances. The Saxonian and Thuringian dialects have less prestige and are subject to derision. While Bavarian and Alemannic have kept much of their distinctiveness, the Middle German dialects, which are closer to Standard German, have lost some of their distinctive lexical and grammatical features and tend to be only pronunciation variants of Standard German.

Low Saxon dialects

Low Saxon is officially recognized as a language on its own, but despite this fact, there's little official action taken on fostering the language. Historically one third of Germany's territory and population was Low Saxon speaking. No data was ever collected on the actual number of speakers, but today the number of speakers ranges around 5 million persons. Despite this relatively high number of speakers there is very little coverage in the media (mostly on NDR TV, no regular programming) and very little education in or on the language. The language is not fixed as part of the school curriculum and Low Saxon is used as a medium of instruction in one school only in the whole Germany (as a "model project" in primary school sided by education in Standard German). As a consequence the younger generation refused to adopt the native language of their parents. Language prevalence dropped from more than 90% (depending on the exact region) in the 1930s to less than 5% today. This accounts for a massive intergenerational gap in language use. Older people regularly use the language and take private initiative to maintain the language, but the lack of innovative potential of the younger generation hinders language maintenance. The language too has an own literature (around 150 published books every year) and there are many theatres (mostly lay stages, but some professional ones, like for example Ohnsorg-Theater).

Use of Low Saxon is mainly restricted to use among acquaintances, like family members, neighbours and friends. A meeting of a village council can be held almost completely in Low Saxon if all participants know each other (as long as written protocols are written in Standard German), but a single foreigner can make the whole switching to Standard German.

The Low Saxon dialects are different in their status too. There's a north-south gradient in language maintenance. The Southern dialects of Westfalian, Eastfalian and Brandenburgish have had much stronger speaker losses, than the northern coastal dialects of Northern Low Saxon. While Eastfalian has lost speakers to Standard German, Westfalian has lost speakers to Standard German and Standard German based regiolect of the Rhine-Ruhr area. Brandenburgish speakers mostly switched to the Standard German-based regiolect of Berlin. Brandenburgish is almost completely replaced by the Berlin regiolect. Northern Low Saxon speakers switched mostly to pure Standard German.

Foreign languages

English is the most common foreign language and almost universally taught by the secondary level; it is also taught at elementary level in some states. Other commonly-taught languages are French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Dutch is taught in states bordering the Netherlands, and Polish in the eastern states bordering Poland. Latin and Ancient Greek are part of the classical education syllabus offered in many secondary schools.

According to a 2004 survey, two-thirds of Germany's citizens have at least basic knowledge of English. About 20% consider themselves to be speakers of French, followed by speakers of Russian (7%), Italian (6.1%), and Spanish (5.6%). The relatively high number of Russian speakers is a result of massive immigration from the former Soviet Union to Germany for almost 10 consecutive years, plus its having been learned in school by many older former East Germans.

See also

• Germans
• Census in Germany

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Demographie Deutschlands.

• Homepage of the Federal Statistical Office Germany (in English)
• German demographics in Online-Databank HISTAT (in German, Registration needed)
• Dossier "The Aging Society" of the Goethe-Institut
• Demographic Profile Germany: United in Decline Allianz Knowledge