Demographics of Germany
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The following is an overview of the demographics 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 15 million people of non-german descent (first and second generation), about 7 million of which are foreign residents. The largest single nationality group 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 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 youths entering universities has more than tripled, and the trade and technical schools are among the world's best. With a per capita income level 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 lead 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 an Eastern European lifestyle.
| 4 million
| Berliners, "Prussians", Polish Germans, Russian Germans and others
| Turks (and German Turks), Poles, Russians |
| Hamburg Metropolitan Region
| 
| Hamburg is Germany's most Anglo-Saxon city with 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, Turks, Portuguese, Afghanistanis, Iranians |
| Munich
| 
| The "secret capital" 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"
| Austrians, Italians, Croats |
| Leipzig/Halle Metropolitan Region
| 
| Also dubbed "City of Heroes", Leipzig is the place, where the 1989 revolution started that brought the wall finally down. Today totally refurbished, it sports Europe's highest density of Art Nouveau architecture. Very lively bar scene, fastest growing economy in Germans
| 1.2 million
| Leipziger, "(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 known as a "fun city" for its nightlife and open-minded atmosphere.
| 12 million
| Rhinelanders, "Prussians" Polish Germans, German Turks and others
| Spaniards, Poles, 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 and Frankfurt International Airport is one of the biggest airports worldwide. Within Germany the city itself has a reputation to be boring.
| 5 million
| Hessians, "Prussians", German Turks and others
| Turks, Iranians, Italians, Greeks, Koreans, Americans |
Ethnic groups
| 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 | 292,100 1 |
| Croatians | 229,200 1 |
| Russians | 179,000 2 |
| Austrians | 174,000 1 |
| Bosnians | 156,000 1 |
| Ukrainians | 128,100 2 |
| Portuguese | 116,700 2 |
| Dutchmen | 114,100 2 |
| Spaniards | 108,300 2 |
| Frenchmen | 100,500 2 |
| Americans | 96,600 1 |
| Britons | 95,900 2 |
| Vietnamese | 83,500 2 |
| Romanians | 125,651 2 |
| Moroccans | 73,000 2 |
| Chinese | 71,600 2 |
| Iranians | 100,000 2 |
| Slav Macedonians | 61,000 5 |
| Afghans | 57,900 2 |
| Hungarians | 47,800 2 |
| Lebanese | 40,900 2 |
| Bulgarians | 39,200 2 |
| Czechs 3 | 38,800 2 |
| Indians | 38,900 2 |
| Swiss | 35,400 2 |
| Sri Lankans | 60,000 2 |
| Pakistanis | 30,900 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 |
| Algerians | 14,500 2 |
| Lithuanians | 14,700 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 [link] [Office for foreign of Germany] (Relations between Greece and Germany) | |
While most of the German citizens are ethnic Germans or naturalized immigrants, 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 most 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, 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 Germany 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.
Since the 1960s, ethnic Germans from the Soviet Union came 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.
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.
There are also around 100,000 Afro-Germans and 150,000+ African nationals.
See Also:
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 due to 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. The vast majority of Germans condemn such violence.
Immigration
Due to its high standard of living Germany is attracting vast groups of people from all over the world and is a classical immigration country. Because of Germany's aging population the country depends on immigration, which it is restructuring with a directed immigration law.
Religions
Protestant 34%, Roman Catholic 34%, Muslim 3.7%, unaffiliated or other 28.3%[link] Roman Catholic is mainly in the South East (Southern Bavaria) and the Very West (Rheinland & Cologne). Strongholds of Protestants are in all Northern and Eastern Federal States. Muslim 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 all over the country, while dialects — which can be quite distinct from the standard language — are still in use in everyday speech, especially in rural regions. In contrast to France speakers with regional dialects and accents are generally not frowned on or interpreted as uneducated. On the contrary, dialects are seen by their speakers as symbols of their regional identity and spoken throughout all social classes.English is the most popular foreign language. In secondary education (in some regions even earlier), it is taught as the first foreign language almost everywhere. Other languages taught at schools are French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Dutch is taught in counties bordering the Netherlands. Latin and Greek are part of the syllabus of classical education which is offered by some, but especially for Greek increasingly less, secondary schools.
According to a 2004 survey, two thirds of Germany's citizens have at least basic knowledge of English. About 20% consider themselves as speakers of French, followed by those 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 (a big part of them is also originally from the East).
Danish, Low German, Sorbian, and Frisian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages per the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in their respective regions. As speakers of Romany are living in all parts of Germany, the federal government has promised to take action to protect the language. Until now, Hesse is the only Land that has followed Berlin's announcement and implemented concrete measures to support speakers of Romany.
| 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 over: 18%
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:
|- |at birth: |1.06 male(s)/female |- |under 15 years: |1.05 male(s)/female |- |15-64 years: |1.03 male(s)/female |- |65 years and over: |0.62 male(s)/female |- |total population: |0.96 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 4.2 deaths (within one year) per 1,000 live births (2003)
Life expectancy at birth (2001):
|- |total population: |78.29 years |- |male: |75.59 years |- |female: |81.34 years
Total fertility rate: 1.42 children born/woman (2004)
External links
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