Germany’s population is higher than ever, hitting a record of 84.3 million people in 2022. The country’s population is primarily of German ethnicity, but there is also a significant immigrant population, with the largest groups being Turkish, Polish, and Syrian. Last year the immigrants were mostly Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war.
“The strong growth was caused by record net immigration. This means that net immigration was more than four times higher than in the previous year and higher than at any time since the beginning of the time series,” reported the Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, on Thursday.
Germany, the most populous country and strongest economy in the European Union, relies on immigration as Destatis noted that “without net immigration, the population would already have been shrinking since 1972, as more people have died than were born every year since”. In 2022, the birth rate sank by 7% compared with 2021, while the death rate grew by 3,4%.
As per statistics, 2022 was also a year of record migration, an estimated 1.42 to 1.45 million more people moved to Germany, than abroad. A report made by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior’s (BMI) states that more than half of people with a migration background in Germany are German citizens, and almost two-thirds have immigrated themselves.
Overall, the population of Europe has been declining in recent years due to a combination of factors such as low fertility rates, an aging population, and migration. However, this trend varies by country, Italy is seeing the biggest decline, -253,100 inhabitants, while France got an increase of +185,900 inhabitants. Based on the latest United Nations estimates, the current population of Europe is 748,794,184, which is equivalent to 9.78% of the total world population.
Source: dw.com
