For almost a decade, Germany has seen its population decline every year due to the low birthrate in the country. In fact the problem can be traced back to a 40 year trend of there being more people dying every year than being born. So it was a surprise to hear that in 2011, Germany’s population grew for the first time in eight years.
The cause for the population growth didn’t have anything to do with more babies being born though. It was with the help of a larger than normal influx of immigrants that the country saw an increase of 90,000 citizens in 2011. An estimate by the Federal Statistical Office suggests that the 163,000 Poles, 95,000 Romanians, 51,000 Bulgarians, and 41,000 Hungarians were the leading cause for the population boom. But can Germany always count on immigrants for population growth?
Unless Germans start having more babies, experts don’t believe the country can sustain growth. With the current rate of new immigrants coming into Germany, Germans would have to increase the birthrate to 2.1 children per woman (up from the current 1.4) just to keep the population levels at the current number. Even though Germany comes in 4th when it comes to population density in Europe, it would only be a matter of time before they saw that number drop.
Source: The Local
Photo by saikofish via flickr
