Erfurt (dpa/th) – In Thuringia, the number of children has slowly increased again in recent years. At the end of 2021, there were a good 271,000 children under the age of 15 living in Bavaria, as the State Office for Statistics announced on Monday on the occasion of World Children’s Day (September 20). That was around 35,000 or 14.8 percent more than in 2006, when the previous low in the number of children was reached in Thuringia.

Overall, children under the age of 15 accounted for 12.9 percent of the Thuringian population in 2021 (2020: 12.8 percent). This puts the Free State 1.0 percentage points below the Germany-wide proportion of children of 13.9 percent.

According to the statisticians, the proportion of children under the age of 15 varied greatly from region to region last year. The district of Eichsfeld had the highest proportion of children at 14.6 percent, while the independent city of Suhl had the lowest proportion of children at 10.6 percent.

According to the State Office, the ratio of seniors to children developed very unfavorably: while in 1990 there were around 143 children for every 100 women and men aged 65 and over, in 2021 there were only around 48 children.