n estimated 3.8 to 4.3 million adherents (4.6% to 5.2%),[173] followed by Buddhism with 2

Main articles: Demographics of Germany, Germans, Social issues in Germany, and List of cities in Germany by population
With a population of 80.2 million according to the May 2011 census,[11] Germany is the most populous country in the European Union, the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and ranks as the 16th most populous country in the world.[146] Its population density stands at 225 inhabitants per square kilometre. The overall life expectancy in Germany at birth is 80.19 years (77.93 years for males and 82.58 years for females).[5] The fertility rate of 1.41 children born per woman (2011 estimates), or 8.33 births per 1000 inhabitants, is one of the lowest in the world.[5] Since the 1970s, Germany's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate.[147] The Federal Statistical Office of Germany has forecast that the population could shrink to between 65 and 70 million by 2060 (depending on the level of net migration).[148] However, such forecasts have often been proven wrong in the past, and Germany is currently witnessing increased birth rates[149] and migration rates since the beginning of the 2010s. It is notably experiencing a strong increase in the number of well-educated migrants.[150][151] In 2012, 300,000 more immigrants than emigrants were reported in Germany.[152]


Development of German population since 1800
Germans by nationality make up 92.3% of the population of Germany.[11] As of 2011 and about six million foreign citizens (7.7% of the population) were registered in Germany.[11] Regarding ethnic background, 20%[6] of the country's residents, or more than 16 million people, were of foreign or partially foreign descent (including persons descending or partially descending from ethnic German repatriates), 96% of whom lived in the former West Germany or Berlin.[153] In 2010, 2.3 million families with children under 18 years were living in Germany, in which at least one parent had foreign roots. They represented 29% of the total of 8.1 million families with minor children. Compared with 2005 – the year when the microcensus started to collect detailed information on the population with a migrant background – the proportion of migrant families has risen by 2 percentage points.[154]
Most of the families with a migrant background live in the western part of Germany. In 2010, the proportion of migrant families in all families was 32% in the pre-unification territory of the Federal Republic. This figure was more than double that in the new Länder (including Berlin) where it stood at 15%.[154] Families with a migrant background more often have three or more minor children in the household than families without a migrant background. In 2010, about 15% of the families with a migrant background contained three or more minor children, as compared with just 9% of the families without a migrant background.[154]
The United Nations Population Fund lists Germany as host to the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide, about 5% or 10 million of all 191 million migrants.[155] As a consequence of restrictions to Germany's formerly rather unrestricted laws on asylum and immigration, the number of immigrants seeking asylum or claiming German ethnicity (mostly from the former Soviet Union) has been declining steadily since 2000.[156] In 2009, 20% of the population had immigrant roots, the highest since 1945.[157] As of 2008, the largest national group was from Turkey (2.5 million), followed by Italy (776,000) and Poland (687,000).[158] About 3 million "Aussiedler"—ethnic Germans, mainly from the former eastern bloc—have resettled in Germany since 1987.[159] Large numbers of people with full or significant German ancestry are found in the United States,[160] Brazil,[161] Argentina[162] and Canada.[163] Most ethnic minorities (especially those of non-European origin) reside in large urban areas like Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Rhine-Ruhr, Rhine-Neckar and Munich. The percentage of non-Germans and immigrants is rather low in rural areas and small towns, especially in the East German states of the former GDR territory.


Circle frame.svg
Ethnic groups in Germany
  Germans (80.7%)
  Other Europeans (7.3%)
  Turks (4%)
  Other Middle Easterners (1.2%)
  Asians (2%)
  Black Africans (1%)
  Others/unspecified (3.8%)
Germany is home to the third-highest number of international migrants worldwide.[164] Ethnic composition in 2010:
Religion

The catholic Cologne Cathedral at the Rhine river is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Berliner Dom, one of the main evangelical cathedrals in Germany
Main article: Religion in Germany
Christianity is the largest religion in Germany, with around 51.5 million adherents (62.8%) in 2008.[170] Relative to the whole population, 30.0% of Germans are Catholics, 29.9% are Protestants belonging to the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), and the remaining Christians belong to smaller denominations each with less than 0.5% of the German population.[171] Protestantism is concentrated in the north and east and Roman Catholicism is concentrated in the south and west;[172] 1.6% of the country's overall population declare themselves Orthodox Christians.[170]
The second largest religion is Islam with an estimated 3.8 to 4.3 million adherents (4.6% to 5.2%),[173] followed by Buddhism with 250,000 and Judaism with around 200,000 adherents (0.3%); Hinduism has some 90,000 adherents (0.1%). All other religious communities in Germany have fewer than 50,000 adherents.[174] Of the roughly 4 million Muslims, most are Sunnis and Alevites from Turkey, but there are a small number of Shi'ites and other denominations.[173] German Muslims, a large portion of whom are of Turkish origin, lack full official state recognition of their religious community.[172] Germany has Europe's third largest Jewish population (after France and the United Kingdom).[175] Approximately 50% of the Buddhists in Germany are Asian immigrants.[176]
Germans with no stated religious adherence make up 34.1% of the population and are concentrated in the former East Germany and major metropolitan areas.[171] German reunification in 1990 greatly increased the country's non-religious population, a legacy of the state atheism of the previously Soviet-controlled East. Christian church membership has decreased in recent decades, particularly among Protestants.[172]
Languages