Germany Population

Germany shows how immigration can mask, but not erase, an ageing society. Its birth rate has sat below replacement since the early 1970s, one of the longest such stretches anywhere, so almost all recent growth has come from migration rather than natural increase. Large inflows, including roughly a million asylum seekers around 2015 plus steady movement within the EU, have held the population near its peak, even as the age structure keeps shifting older and labour shortages and pension funding dominate the economic debate.

With roughly 83.7 million people as of 2026, Germany ranks 19th in the world by population. In Western Europe, where it lies, that future is driven by fertility, longevity and the movement of people across its borders. It packs in roughly 240 people per square kilometre.

Germany's population has already passed its peak of about 84.7 million, reached around 2024. It now sits roughly 1% below that high point, and the UN projects about 78.4 million by 2050 and 70.9 million by 2100.

The median age is set to climb from about 45 today to roughly 47 by 2100, even as life expectancy improves from about 82 years. A rising median age means fewer working-age people supporting each retiree over time.

With fertility near 1.45, just under the 2.1 replacement mark, natural increase is fading. Net inward migration adds to the population each year and partly offsets the low birth rate.

The trajectory above is the UN's medium scenario. Wars, policy shifts, economic change and migration can all move the numbers, but the broad shape, a population already past its peak, is robust across the main variants.