For the first time in 33 years, some 738,000 newborns arrived in Germany in 2015, increasing the average to 1.5 children per German mother. Immigration has made a large contribution to the rise.
The birthrate among German citizens only increased from 1.42 to 1.43 children per woman, while the real surge was seen among women of other nationalities (from 1.86 to 1.95 children per woman).
The birthrate is the highest it has ever been since 1982, and continues a trend that began in 2012, according to a report by the Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) released on Monday.
But despite the turn-around, Germany’s population is still set to decline by about 10 million people by 2060, according to Destatis projections and the 2015 birthrate still remains well below the rate of 2.1 children per woman needed to replace a dying people.
A report by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) last year showed that Germany had the second oldest population in the world after Japan, reaching a peak average age of 44.1 years in 2013.
The rate of 1.51 children per woman is a prediction based on the birthrate last year in relation to the population of fertile women. Destatis, the German stats office, define fertile as women between the ages of 15 and 49.
While some sosiologists have predicted that baby-friendly measures for working parents would have no effect, the new data seems to contradict their notion of the limited success in the government’s and industry’s incentives and policies to promote childbirth.
Overall, the former East Germany did better with higher rates at 1.56 children, compared to 1.50 in the west. The state of Saxony had the highest rate at 1.59 children, whereas the lowest was in Saarland at just 1.38 children per woman.
Last month, before the release of Monday’s report, Martin Bujard from the BiB hailed the turning point in the decline. “The decline in birthrate has stopped,” Bujard said.
The birthrate in Germany represents somewhat of a demographic implosion after it stagnated to one of the lowest levels in the world, fueling gloomy predictions about the future burden on the state of a disproportionately ageing population.
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