Inhabitants rises slightly: the West grows, the east shrinks

The number of people in Germany rose slightly to almost 83.6 million last year. The growth compared to the previous year 2023 was 0.1 percent, which corresponded to 121,000 people, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Friday in Wiesbaden. He was therefore the result of a hike surplus- so there was more attributable than moves. In contrast, more people died again than were born here.

Behind it are also regionally different developments. According to the statisticians, the population in the western federal states rose by 0.2 percent or 136,000 to 67.5 million in the previous year. In contrast, in the eastern federal states without the capital Berlin capital, it decreased in parallel by 0.3 percent or 38,000 to 12.4 million.

The federal states with the biggest losses were Thuringia with a minus of 0.7 percent or 15,000, Saxons with a minus of 12,000 or 0.3 percent and Saxony-Anhalt with a minus of 9,000 or 0.4 percent. In contrast, Bavaria recorded the greatest increase with an increase of 73,000.

The hike surplus fell compared to the previous year according to preliminary figures from 660,000 to 420,000, but remained clearly positive. In contrast, the population decreased again because there were more deaths than births. The death surplus was similar to 330,000 as in 2023.

According to the Federal Office in 2024, the foreign population grew by 283,000 or 2.3 percent to 12.4 million. The German population decreased by 162,000 or 0.2 percent to 71.2 million. As a result, the proportion of foreigners increased from 14.5 percent at the end of 2023 at the end of 2024. The largest foreign groups (around 1.4 million), Ukrainian (almost 1.1 million) and Syrian (around 890,000) were formed.