Demographic Situation

Organisation of administration

As of 31 December 2020, Germany has been divided regionally and for administrative purposes into 16 Länder (including three city states), 19 administrative regions (Regierungsbezirke), 401 districts (Kreise) comprising 107 municipalities with the status of a district (kreisfreie Städte) and 294 rural districts (Landkreise) and 10,796 municipalities (Gemeinden). The city states of Berlin, Bremen (two municipalities) and Hamburg are also counted as local authorities, as are all municipalities with the status of a district and inhabited areas not belonging to any municipality. Some Länder also have intermunicipal corporations (Gemeindeverbände) which are formed if their members agree to pool their efforts with each retaining its individual rights.

Population structure

The number of foreign nationals living in Germany is an important factor influencing the changing population structure. According to the Central Register of Aliens (Ausländerzentralregister – AZR), in 2020 there were 11.4 million foreign nationals. In numerical terms, Turks represented the biggest group, at 12.8 per cent of Germany's foreign population. In 2020, 42.8 per cent came from EU Member States, of which Poland was most strongly represented at 7.6 per cent of the entire foreign population.

Settlement structure

Since the restoration of German unity, the Federal Republic of Germany covers a total of some 357,000 km². In 2020, 83.2 million people lived in Germany. With a population density of 233 inhabitants per km² in 2020, Germany is one of the most densely populated nations in Europe.

In geographical terms, the population is distributed extremely unevenly. The most densely populated areas are the city states of Berlin, Bremen and Hamburg. Nordrhein-Westfalen, where towns and cities run into each other without any clear boundaries in the industrial area surrounding the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, had over 17.9 million inhabitants in 2020 with a population density of 525 inhabitants per km². Other conurbations include the Rhine-Main area, the industrial area in the Rhine-Neckar district, the commercial area around Stuttgart and the areas around Bremen, Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Nuremberg/Fürth.

These densely populated regions contrast with extremely thinly populated areas, e.g. in the North German Plain, parts of the Central Upland, the Brandenburg Marches and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. 

In 2020, just less than 32.8 million persons or 39.4 per cent of the German population lived in urban or densely-populated areas (municipalities with at least 50,000 inhabitants and a population density of more than 500 inhabitants per km²). Around 33.6 million people lived in semi-urban or medium density population areas (municipalities with at least 50,000 inhabitants and a population density of 100 to 500 inhabitants per km²). This corresponds to 40.4 per cent of the total population. Just less than 16.8 million people lived in municipalities in rural areas with a population density of fewer than 100 inhabitants per km². This was 20.3 per cent of the total population.

Birth rate development

In line with the majority of western industrial nations, Germany has a low birth rate and a correspondingly small number of children. The decisive decline in the birth rate took place between the mid-sixties and the mid-seventies.

The number of births in Germany in 2020 was 773,114. Compared to the year 2019, the number of births has decreased by around 5,000.

Age distribution

The age distribution of the population of Germany is on the point of changing with lasting effect. This is due to both the declining number of children and the increasing life expectancy. This results in a drop in the proportion of young people at the same time as an increase in the proportion of older people.

In 2020, more than 15.3 million inhabitants were younger than 20. This corresponds to a proportion of 18.6 per cent. The proportion of inhabitants aged 60+ increased from 20.0 per cent in 1970 to 29 per cent in 2020. Their numbers amounted to 24 million and, in 2020, they outnumbered the younger inhabitants.

Population by age

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt

Migration (cross-border arrivals and departures)

In 2019, 1,558,612 people immigrated from abroad, 1,231,552 left Germany. This represents an increase of 327,060 people. In 2019, more than 66.0 per cent of immigrants to Germany came from Europe, just less than 77 per cent of these from European Union member states.

Migration (cross-border arrivals and departures)

Source: Statistisches Bundesamt

Languages

German is stipulated by law as the official language of administration and the judiciary of the Federation and the Länder. The two main provisions for the federal domain can be found in the Administrative Procedure Act (Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz, Section 23) and the Court Constitution Act (Gerichtsverfassungsgesetz, Section 184). Special provisions exist in Sachsen and Brandenburg for the use of the Sorbian and Lower Sorbian language, respectively, and in Schleswig-Holstein for the use of the Low German, Frisian and Danish languages.

There are no corresponding legislative provisions on the language of instruction in the education sector. German is the normal language of instruction and training at general education and vocational schools as well as institutions of higher education.

The exceptions in the school sector include, alongside certain privately-maintained schools, all bilingual schools and classes as well as instruction and extra classes in the native language for pupils with migrant backgrounds or those whose native tongue is not German. In 1998, Germany joined the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages of the Council of Europe and applies this agreement to those speaking Danish, Frisian, Sorbian, Romany and Low German. The children of the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein can attend privately-maintained Ersatzschulen (alternative schools) instead of the general education schools of the public sector, as long as the educational objectives of these schools essentially correspond to those of the school types provided for in the Schleswig-Holstein Education Act. Lessons in these schools are taught in Danish. As a rule, German is a compulsory subject as of grade 2. Parents or legal guardians may choose whether their children should attend schools catering for the Danish minority. They merely have to inform the local Grundschule (primary school) that their child has been accepted at a school which caters for the Danish minority, and thus absolve him/her from the need to attend the public-sector school.

Children and young people of ethnic Sorbian descent in the settlement area of the Sorbs in Brandenburg and Sachsen, in particular, have the opportunity of learning the Sorbian or Lower Sorbian language at Sorbian or other schools and are also taught in the Sorbian or Lower Sorbian language in certain subjects as well as at certain grades or levels of education. All schools in Sachsen also impart basic knowledge of Sorbian history and culture. In Brandenburg, the Sorbian/Wendish history and culture are to be included and taught in educational work in the ancestral settlement area of the Sorbs/Wends. Parents may decide freely whether their children are to attend the Sorbian schools where Sorbian is a compulsory subject and sometimes also the language of instruction. Additionally, Romany, the language of the German Sinti and Romanies, as well as Frisian and Low German in the Länder of northern Germany are taken into account to varying degrees in schools, higher education institutions and in adult education.

As a rule, the language of instruction in higher education is also German. Individual classes may also be conducted in a foreign language if it serves the objectives of the course of study. The institutions of higher education are making increasing use of this possibility. This particularly applies to the internationale Studiengänge (international degree courses). As a rule, the main element of these study courses is the fact that a foreign language – predominantly English – is used as the language of instruction and as a working language. This development is supported by the increasing internationalisation of institutions of higher education and the further evolution of the Bologna Process for the realisation of a European Higher Education Area.

Religions

The Basic Law (Grundgesetz) guarantees freedom of belief and conscience and the freedom of creed, religious or ideological; the undisturbed practice of religion is guaranteed (Art. 4). ). This guarantee can be invoked by both individuals and associations of individuals; the latter are referred to as religious communities or religious society under certain conditions.

There is no state church in the Federal Republic of Germany; the Basic Law guarantees the rights of the religious communities or religious societies (Art. 140). As religious communities, their relationship with the state has been adopted from the provisions of the 1919 Weimar constitution (Art. 136–139 and 141), which are part of the Basic Law, and is characterised by the principle of the separation of church and state. Unless religious communities were already corporations under public law before 1919, they can obtain this status on application if they offer the guarantee of permanence through their constitution and the number of their members (Art. 137 paragraph 5 No. 2 of the Weimar constitution) and adhere to the law. However, religious communities can also be organised under private law or dispense with a legal constitution. In some Länder, individual umbrella organisations of Islamic communities have the status of religious communities. There are also religious communities outside the spectrum of Abrahamic religions such as the Bahá'í community in Germany.

In 2019, the Roman Catholic Church in Germany had 22.6 million members and the Protestant Church had 20.7 million members (just less than a third of the population each). The Evangelical Free Churches and the Orthodox Churches as well as the Jewish communities and their associations are also represented among others. Between 5.3 and 5.6 million Muslims with a migration background live in the Federal Republic, the largest goup of whom are of Turkish origin.

According to the Basic Law, religious instruction is part of the curriculum in public-sector schools, except non-denominational schools, and is given in accordance with the doctrine of the religious community concerned (Art. 7, paragraph 3 GG). The stipulations contained in the Basic Law on religious instruction as a standard subject are not, however, applied in Bremen and Berlin since these Länder had already laid down different regulations under Land law on 1 January 1949, in other words prior to the promulgation of the Basic Law (Art. 141 GG). The validity of this so-called Bremer Klausel in the Land of Brandenburg has not yet been conclusively established.

In about half of the Länder there are lessons for pupils of Jewish, Orthodox, Islamic and other faiths.

The Basic Law stipulates that legal guardians have the right to decide whether children receive religious instruction (Art. 7, paragraph 2 GG). According to the Law on the Religious Education of Children (KErzG– Gesetz über die religiöse Kindererziehung), once a child has reached the age of 12, the decision made by the parents must have the child's consent. From the age of 14, each child is free to decide whether to attend religious instruction, unless Land legislation makes other provision. For pupils who do not take part in religious education, "ethics instruction" (under names such as ethics, philosophy, life design-ethics-religious studies, values and norms) has been established as a regular subject in most Länder. According to the largely unanimous guidelines of the Länder, ethics instruction serves to educate and train pupils to make responsible and value-conscious judgments and actions. Its objectives and content are based on the values laid down in the Basic Law, in the constitutions of the Länder and in their Education Acts for the educational mission of the school. These subjects are intended to provide a critical understanding of the values and norms that are effective in society, as well as access to philosophical, ideological and religious issues. In some Länder, this also includes knowledge of religion. The aim is to impart ethical orientation competence in a rapidly changing technological and social world and to enable students to form well-founded judgments and to act responsibly. The subjects mentioned above take into account the plurality of confessions and world views. This is done in dialogue and discussion with the convictions and traditions that are effective in our society. From this, sustainable orientations for thought and action are to be gained by way of substantiation and reflection. The teaching of certain contents and ways of thinking in the sense of a closed world view with a uniform interpretation of questions of life and meaning is not the concern of this instruction.

For the situation of Protestant religious education and Catholic religious education, see the reports of 2002 of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder (Kultusministerkonferenz). In June 2019, the Presidium of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (Kultusministerkonferenz) and representatives of the Protestant churches in Germany and the German Bishops' Conference agreed on a new update of the reports. A new version of the report on ethics education has been published in June 2020 under the title “On the situation of instruction in the subjects ethics, philosophy, fundamental questions of life – ethics – religious education (L E R), values and norms in the Federal Republic of Germany” (‘Zur Situation des Unterrichts in den Fächern Ethik, Philosophie, Lebensgestaltung-Ethik-Religionskunde (L E R), Werte und Normen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland’).

The efforts of many Länder to establish religious education or teaching of religious studies following non-Christian beliefs or those confessions whose geographical origin is not in the European cultural sphere are to be seen as a measure to promote comprehensive education and integration in the field of education. This applies in particular to the establishment of Islamic religious instruction or Islamic instruction in public schools. In earlier years, religious aspects of Islam were taught in individual Länder, for example as part of the instruction given in the pupils’ native language. Some Länder also offered Islamic instruction in German, predominantly as pilot projects and trials at individual schools. However, these were not state religious education within the meaning of Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the Basic Law, as there were no cooperation partners whose status as a religious community within the meaning of the Basic Law had previously been established. In 2012 and 2013, Islamic religious education was established as a regular subject in Nordrhein-Westfalen and Niedersachsen. An advisory body (committee, commission) is acting for Islamic religious communities under the terms of the Basic Law on a transitional basis, and representing the concerns and interests of Islamic organisations in the process of introducing and implementing Islamic religious education as a standard subject. Since the 2013/2014 school year, two legally and organisationally separate forms of Islamic religious instruction have been established in Hessen in cooperation with two Islamic organisations in accordance with Article 7, paragraph 3 of the Basic Law. In Bayern and a number of primary schools in Schleswig-Holstein Islamic instruction is given in state responsibility and without the participation of Muslim associations. In Baden-Württemberg, Islamic religious education in the Sunni denomination will be offered from the school year 2019/2020 on the basis of a provisional sponsorship by the Foundation Sunni School Council (Stiftung Sunnitischer Schulrat), which in particular exercises the technical school supervision. Persons with a corresponding qualification which can be acquired in Baden-Württemberg at the University of Tübingen and at four of the six colleges of education (Pädagogische Hochschulen), as well as by a successfully completed preparatory service, can be employed as teachers. In Hamburg, a non-denominational, dialogueoriented "religious education for all" based on Article 7, paragraph 3 of the Basic Law has been developed since 2013 within the framework of pilot experiments with the participation also of Islamic religious communities. According to the Standing Conference over 58,000 pupils took part in Islamic religious instruction or Islamic studies in 2019/2020.