1 Jun 2013

German population lower than thought

5:57 am on 1 June 2013

Germany has found that it has 1.5 million fewer people than was generally assumed, following the first Census since reunification in 1990.

Destatis, the federal statistics office, said the new data revealed a population of 80.2 million. The Census was carried out on 9 May, 2011.

Until now, census figures dated back to a West German one conducted in 1987, and a 1981 one in the former East Germany.

The data reveals the total number of foreigners is 6.2 million - 1.1 million fewer than had been assumed. They make up 7.7% of the total population.

The BBC reports the number of residents from a non-German background is 15 million - about 19% of the total.

On home ownership, the census put the national figure at 45.8%, with Berlin right at the bottom. Only 15.6% of people in the capital are homeowners.

Meanwhile, more than one in 10 dwellings in the eastern German cities of Chemnitz, Leipzig and Halle were found to be empty.