Is Germany running out of Germans?

Photo: Cha già José

WHEN THE REST OF THE WORLD IS CONCERNED about overpopulation, Germany is worried about running out of Germans.

Destatis, the German statistics office, recently explained that, while there are around 82 million people in Germany today, the population is expected to drop to between 67.6 and 73.1 people by 2060.

These numbers are subject to changes according to immigration policies, but the native birth rate will inevitably and steadily decrease starting around 2020. The projection below illustrates this trend.

With Germany’s population ageing, the main concern is the skrinking labour force and its consequences on the European Union’s stongest economy. Eurostats explains that “international migration may be used as a tool to solve specific labour market shortages. However, migration alone will almost certainly not reverse the ongoing trend of population ageing experienced in many parts of the EU”.