Immigration drives Germany population up

* 84.7m Germany pop gets additional 300k immigrants

* Yearly, more people die than are born in country

Agency report

Immigration to Germany drove the country’s population up slightly in 2023, according to new estimates from the Federal Statistical Office released on Thursday.

Germany, the most populous country in the European Union, had a population of about 84.7 million people at the end of last year, an increase of about 300,000 people, according to the agency’s updated estimates.

Net migration was again the sole driver of population growth in Germany in 2023, according to the agency. Without immigration, the country’s population would have shrunk every year since at least 1990.

“As in all years since German reunification, the balance of births and deaths was again negative in 2023, as more people died than were born,” the agency said in a statement.

In 2022, record immigration to Germany, primarily Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country, led to a sharper population increase of 1.1 million people, according to previous agency estimates.

The Statistical Office estimated net immigration to Germany in 2023, which accounts for both people moving to and away from the country, at between 680,000 and 710,000 people.

Net immigration was significantly lower compared to years when particularly large numbers of refugees arrived in Germany, such as in 2015 (1.14 million net) and 2022 (1.46 million net).

Source: GermanyToday |dpa