Approaching demographic winter as EU youth figures drop further

In figures: of the 83,2 million people who lived in Germany at the end of last year, 8,3 million were between 15 and 24 years old, as the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden announced on Monday. This corresponds to a share of 10 percent. The number of people in this age group is thus smaller, both in absolute terms and proportionally, than at any time since the beginning of the time series in 1950.

According to the information, the value has been falling continuously since 2005, with the exception of 2015. Young people made up the highest proportion of the total population in the first half of the 1980s, when baby boomers were in their teens. In 1983 there were still 13,1 million 15 to 24 year olds, and their share of the total population was 16,7 percent.

The Federal Office recorded the lowest proportion of young people at the end of 2021 with 8.0 percent in Brandenburg, followed by Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 8,3 percent each. Bremen had the highest proportion in this age group (11 percent). It was followed by Baden-Württemberg (10,6 percent) and Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia (10,5 percent each).

For a European comparison, Germany’s figures are only slightly below average: according to figures from the EU statistical authority Eurostat, the proportion of 15 to 24-year-olds across the EU at the beginning of 2021 was an average of 10,6 percent. The proportion was highest in Ireland (12,6 percent), followed by Denmark and Cyprus, each with 12,3 percent. It was lowest in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria (9 percent each).