Immigration is causing the population in Germany to grow slightly, reports the Federal Statistical Office

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Crowd on Frankfurt's Zeil shopping street: Germany's population grew by 82,000 in 2021

Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / picture alliance / dpa

The population in Germany has grown slightly over the past year.

As the Federal Statistical Office announced on Monday in Wiesbaden, the number of people living in Germany increased by 0.1 percent or around 82,000 compared to 2020 to a good 83.2 million.

The year before, the number had practically stagnated.

According to the Federal Office, the increase was mainly due to an immigration surplus.

According to this, around 317,000 more people settled in Germany last year than moved abroad.

The so-called net immigration thus approached the level before the outbreak of the corona pandemic.

In 2019, net immigration was 327,000, but in the first year of the coronavirus it had fallen to 220,000.

228,000 more deaths than births

However, there was an opposite development in the so-called surplus of deaths.

According to preliminary data from the authorities, it rose further last year to around 228,000.

In 2020, on the other hand, only 220,000 more people died in Germany than were born here.

As the statistics also show, the proportion of older people in the total population continued to increase:

• The number of residents

  over the age of 60

  rose by 1.4 percent to

  24.4 million

  compared to the previous year .

• The number of people

  between the ages of 20 and 59

  fell by 0.8 percent to

  43.4 million

  ,

• while the number of

  children and young people up to the age of 20

  rose by 0.6 percent to around

  15.4 million

  .

10.9 million people with foreign citizenship

The proportion of people with foreign nationality also increased to 13.1 percent.

The year before it was 12.7 percent.

At the end of 2021 lived accordingly

• 10.9 million

  people

  with foreign citizenship

  in Germany;

• According to the Federal Office, 72.3 million people

  had

  German citizenship

  .

According to this, 67.1 million people lived in the western German federal states without Berlin, and 12.5 million in the eastern German federal states without a federal capital.

The population in the west increased by 98,000 compared to the previous year, while in the east it continued to decrease slightly by 30,000.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the information is based on a so-called population update.

This is based on the results of the 2011 census, which are updated annually with data from the registry and registration offices.

According to the Federal Office, these are provisional, but subsequent major postponements are no longer to be expected.

ala/AFP