Demographics of Germany

Germany's population pyramid.

File:Pop density-lowestest.png

The following is an overview of the demography of Germany.

The demography of the Federal Republic of Germany is monitored by the "Statistisches Bundesamt" (Federal Statistical Office of Germany). The population of Germany is approximately 82,468,000. Germany's population is characterized by zero or declining growth , with an aging population and smaller cohort of youths.

There are more than 16 million people of non-German descent (first and second generation, including mixed heritage), about seven million of which are foreign residents. The largest single nationality group of these are the Turkish. Germany has been a prime destination for refugees from many developing countries, in part because its constitution long had a clause giving a 'right' to political asylum, but restrictions over the years have since made it less attractive.

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 income of about $27,000, Germany is a broadly middle class society. Germans also are mobile; millions travel abroad each year. A generous social welfare system provides for universal health care, unemployment compensation, and other social needs. Due to Germany's aging population and struggling economy, the welfare system came under a lot of strain from the 1990s. This led the government to push through a wide-ranging programme of belt-tightening reforms, Agenda 2010, including the labour market reforms known as Hartz I - IV.

Major metropolitan areas

City name	Location	Description	Population	Largest German ethnic groups	Largest non-German ethnic groups
Berlin		Berlin is the capital of Germany and its largest city. Berlin lies in the eastern part of the country and has a reputation for cosmopolitan lifestyle, the German "city that never sleeps".	4 million	Berliners, Polish Germans, German Turks, Russian Germans and others	Turks, Poles, Russians
Hamburg Metropolitan Region		Hamburg has a long tradition for sea trade and civil establishment. Hamburg is proud of its sophisticated bar and music scene and its reputation as Germany's "capital of good taste".	4 million	Hamburgers, "(Lower-)Saxons" and others	Scandinavians, Poles, Turks, Portuguese, Afghanistanis, Iranians
Munich		Munich has Germany's highest standard of living. Countless sporting and leisure opportunities - both in the city and in its picturesque region. Munich is a powerhouse of the German economy and rich in Bavarian culture.	3 million	Bavarians, Franks and "Zugereiste"	Turks, Croats, Serbs, Greeks, Austrians, Italians
Leipzig / Halle 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.	1.2 million	Leipzigers, Saxons and others	Asians, Russians, Italians, Iranians
Cologne / Rhine Ruhr Area		Cologne is the largest and unofficial capital city of the Rhineland, the very Western part of Germany. Particularly among young Germans, Cologne is renowned for its nightlife and open-minded atmosphere.	10 million	Rhinelanders, Polish Germans, German Turks and others	Spaniards, Iranians, Japanese (large Japanese community in Düsseldorf)
Frankfurt Rhine Main Area		Frankfurt is the economic and financial center both for Germany and the continental European Union. Frankfurt is arguably Germany's most international city. It boasts a large airport and numerous skyscrapers. Within Germany, the city has a reputation of being very business-oriented, perhaps at the expense of other pursuits.	5 million	Hessians, German Turks and others	Turks, Iranians, Italians, Greeks, Koreans, Americans

Ethnic groups

Nationalities in Germany (Dec 31, 2004)

Germans	75,212,900 1
legal foreign residents	7,288,000 1
Turks	1,764,300 1
Italians	548,200 1
Serbs	507,328 4
Greeks	370,000 6
Poles	327,239 1
Croats	229,200 1
Vietnamese	183,500 2
Russians	179,000 2
Austrians	174,000 1
Bosnians	156,000 1
Ukrainians	128,100 2
Romanians	125,651 2
Portuguese	116,700 2
Dutchmen	114,100 2
Spaniards	108,300 2
French	100,500 2
Iranians	100,000 2
Americans	96,600 1
Britons	95,900 2
Moroccans	73,000 2
Macedonians	61,000 5
Sri Lankans	60,000 2
Afghans	57,900 2
Azerbaijani	55,000 2
Hungarians	47,800 2
Lebanese	40,900 2
Bulgarians	39,200 2
Indians	38,900 2
Czechs 3	38,800 2
Swiss	35,400 2
Pakistanis	30,900 2
Eritrean	25,000 2
Tunisians	22,400 2
Belgians	21,800 2
Slovenes	21,000 1
Ghanians	20,600 2
Slovaks	20,200 2
Danes	18,000 2
Swedes	16,200 2
Lithuanians	14,700 2
Algerians	14,500 2
Finns	13,100 2
Albanians	10,500 2
Irish	10,000 2
Luxembourgers	6,800 2
Sources: 1 destatis 2 destatis. Notes: 3 Including 8500 Persons with old Czechoslovakian citizenship 4 Including people from former Yugoslavia, who registered as Yugoslavians before the country broke up. 5 know-library 6 [1] Office for foreign of Germany (Relations between Greece and Germany)

The official statistics collect only nationality data: Germans 91.5%, Turks 2.4%, other 6.1% (made up largely of Italians, Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Greeks, Poles, Vietnamese, and Russians.

While most of the German citizens are ethnic Germans (67,1 M or 81.4%) or naturalized immigrants (15,3 M or 18.6%), there are four other sizable groups of people that have lived in Germany for centuries. They are referred to as "national minorities" (nationale Minderheiten): 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 (60,000 inhabitants define themselves as "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 located 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.

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 normally does not keep information on the ethnicity of its citizens. 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 1990s, many Roma moved to Germany from former Yugoslavia. 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, there was an influx of 12 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe who were expelled or fled after Germany lost the war.

Since the 1960s, ethnic Germans from the Soviet Union have come to Germany, especially from Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine. 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 heritage.

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 200,000 since 1991. Jews have a voice in German public life through the Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland. Some Jews from the former Soviet Union are of mixed heritage.

There are also around 100,000 Afro-Germans and 150,000+ African nationals as well as nearly 50,000 Indian-Germans.

See Also:

• Volga German

Germany's foreign-born population by country of origin

East-West migration

With unification on October 3, 1990, Germany began the major task of bringing the standard of living of Germans in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) up to that of western Germany. This will be a lengthy and difficult process because of the relative inefficiency of industrial enterprises in the former GDR, difficulties in resolving property ownership in eastern Germany, and the inadequate infrastructure and environmental damage that resulted from decades of communist rule. Since reunification, hundreds of thousands of former East Germans have migrated into western Germany to find work.

Drastic changes in the socioeconomic landscape brought about by reunification have resulted in troubling social problems. Economic uncertainty in eastern Germany is often cited as one factor contributing to extremist violence, primarily from the political right. Confusion about the causes of the current hardships and a need to place blame have found expression in harassment and violence by some Germans directed toward foreigners, particularly non-Europeans.

Immigration

Main article: Immigration to Germany

In its State of World Population 2006 report, the United Nations Population Fund lists Germany with hosting the third-highest percentage of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 10 million of all 191 million migrants .

Religions

Main article: Religion in Germany

Roman Catholic 31.4%, Evangelical Church in Germany 30.8%, Nonreligious 29.6%, Muslim 4%, Orthodox 2%[2] Roman Catholic is mainly in the South East (Southern Bavaria) and the Very West (Rheinland & Cologne). Strongholds of Protestants are in all Northern States. Muslim, Orthodox and Jewish minority communities are mainly in the big cities.

Languages

German is Germany's only official and most-widely spoken language. Standard German is understood throughout the country, while dialects — some quite distinct from the standard language — are used in everyday speech, especially in rural regions. Speakers with regional dialects and accents are not frowned on or interpreted as uneducated. On the contrary, dialects are seen as symbols of regional identity and spoken throughout all social classes.

English is the most common foreign language and almost universally taught by the secondary level. Other languages taught are French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Dutch is taught in counties bordering the Netherlands. Latin and Greek are part of the classical education syllabus offered by some 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 (18%), Italian (6.1%), and Spanish (5.6%). The high number of Russian speakers is a result of the GDR's close relation to the Soviet Union — more than half of the Germans in the East speak Russian, compared to 5.5% in the western part of the country (the majority were originally from the East).

Danish, Low German, Sorbian, and Frisian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in their respective regions. Wisth speakers of Romany are 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, implementing concrete measures to support Romany speakers.

Protected Minority Languages in Germany

Language	States
Danish	Schleswig-Holstein
North Frisian	Schleswig-Holstein
Saterland Frisian	Lower Saxony
Low German	Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Westfalia
Upper Sorbian	Saxony
Lower Sorbian	Brandenburg
Romany	Hesse (see text)

Literacy

Over 99% of those of age 15 and above are estimated to be able to read and write.

Statistics

Age structure (2003):

• 0-14 years: 14.7%
• 15-64 years: 67.3%
• 65 years and

Population growth rate: -0.01% (2005)

Birth rate: 8.56 births/1,000 population (2003)

Death rate: 10.35 deaths/1,000 population (2003)

Net migration rate: 4.01 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:

Infant mortality rate: 4.2 deaths (within one year) per 1,000 live births (2003)

Life expectancy at birth (2001):

Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (2005)

External links

• Homepage of the Federal Statistical Office Germany (in English)