German Society and Demographics
A look at the historic and modern populations that have shaped German culture and politics.
Location: Berlin, Germany
Political Status
Germany is currently a Federal Parliamentary Republic with a President, Chancellor, President of the Bundestag (Lower House), President of the Bundesrat (Upper House), and President of the Federal Constitutional Court. The country is divided into 16 states, or Laender. Historically, the country has seen many forms of government, from feudal monarchies, to the Holy Roman Empire in 962 and then the German Empire in 1871, the Weimar Republic in 1918, and the Nazi state in 1933.
Population and Demographics
Historically, the inhabitants of the region have come from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds. The so-called Germanic Tribes (a diverse Indo-European group that is linked by their use of Germanic languages) emerged first from southern Scandinavia, and developed into a variety of Bronze Age and Iron Age cultures. These cultures came into conflict with, and blended with Celts, Huns, Slavs, and other early peoples, coalescing into a series of Germanic kingdoms that included the Vikings of Scandinavia and the Franks, who, following the fall of Rome, established the Holy Roman Empire under Charlemagne. After the Norman Conquest of Britain in 1066 (the Normans themselves being descendants of the Germanic Vikings and Germanic Franks), the Germanic tribal cultures began the process of forming the nation-states of the later medieval period, foremost of which was the Holy Roman Empire which lasted until the nineteenth century.
The 2018 census put Germany’s population at 82,800,000 making it the most populous country in the European Union, and the 16th most populous in the world. This population fairly evenly distributed throughout the country.
The most recent estimates made for the populations ethnicity reveal that 80.8% identify as German, 11.7% as “other Europeans”, 4.9% as West Asians, 1.3% as Other Asians, 0.6% as Africans, and 0.5% as Americans. The modern nation’s only official and national language is German.
Four groups are known as “national minorities,” identified as those peoples who have lived in their respective regions in the country for centuries. These include a Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein, the Sorbs in Lusatia, the Frisians in Lower Saxony, and the Roma and Sinti whose populations are scattered throughout the country.
In modern times, low birth rates (the population growth rate was -0.17% in 2018) have meant much of the country’s growth has come from immigration; only about 22% of the country is under 24 years of age. The median age is currently about 47.4 years.
Emigration and Global Populations
Germany, now and throughout the modern era, is and has been a nation of immigrants and emigrants. At present, the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, South Africa, and France all have German populations greater than one million.
The United States has the largest percentage of this diaspora, with more than 46 million inhabitants of German ancestry. From 1940 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants. Between 1820 and World War I, nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. Although they have largely assimilated with their host cultures in modern times, they have left an indelible stamp even on the United States, where German foods and other cultural influences have become a part of everyday life.
Germany has also become host to immigrants from around the world, and is currently the second most popular destination for immigrants. Currently about 12% of the population of the country are non-citizen residents, and about 22.5% of the residents have immigrant ancestors or are themselves immigrants. Much of this immigrant population began to arrive during the 1960s-1970s guest worker program, during which the government sought out workers from foreign countries for German industries. Other groups have flowed into the country from the Near East and Africa, especially since unrest in that region began in around 2011.
Bibliography
Kathryn Lane, Germany: The Land (New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company, 2001).
Richard Lord, Festivals of the World: Germany (Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Gareth Stevens Publishing, 1997).
“Germany,” The World Factbook, 15 January 2019, Central Intelligence Agency, accessed 19 January 2019.
“Meals and Manners, Eating Habits in Germany,” CMA Global Partners, LLC. 2019. Germanfoods.org. Accessed 20 January 2019.
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