Germany news: Population shrinks for first time since COVID-induced dip in 2020
Skip next section German population shrinks for first time since 2020 06/16/2026 June 16, 2026 German population shrinks for first time since 2020 Germany's population
Skip next section German population shrinks for first time since 2020 06/16/2026 June 16, 2026 German population shrinks for first time since 2020 Germany's population shrank by roughly 110,000 people in 2025, the first calendar-year reduction since 2020, the government's statistics office Destatis said on Tuesday. At the end of 2025, 83.5 million people resided in the country. The reduction equates to a little more than 0.13%. Reduced net migration — with 235,000 more people moving to the country than leaving it — was not enough to cancel out the fact that 352,000 more people died than were born in Germany in 2025.
The last time the German population shrank in a year was in 2020, as the height of the travel restrictions amid the COVID pandemic led to a sharp one-off dip in migration. Germany's birth rate hit the lowest level on record last year and Chancellor Friedrich Merz had promised a tougher line on migration in the 2025 election campaign, so the news did not come as a surprise. The only states where the population grew were the wholly urban city states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg.
The rate of population decline was considerably faster in the former East German states, at 0.5% (57,000 people in total), compared to 0.1% (or 68,000 people) across the states that made up former West Germany. Eastern states are home to fewer people with migrant backgrounds, who also tend to have more children. The population continued aging as a result. The 60-79 age bracket continued to swell, with 358,000 people joining its ranks as more and more so-called "Babyboomers" approached retirement age.
The primary ta paying age bracket, from 20 to 59, shrank disproportionately to the national average, falling by 1.0% or 409,000 people.
The BriefWire