The number of young people in Germany has been falling continuously since 2005. Now there are fewer than ever before: only one in ten people in this country is between the ages of 15 and 24, reports the Federal Statistical Office. At the same time, the total population is reaching a new high.
Fewer young people live in Germany than ever before since the founding of the Federal Republic. At the end of last year, there were a good 8.3 million people between the ages of 15 and 24. This corresponds to a share of only 10.0 percent of the total population, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). At the end of 2021, every tenth person in this country was aged 15 to 24, compared to every sixth 40 years ago. According to Destatis, the number of young people, both in absolute and proportional terms, is lower than it has ever been since the time series began in 1950. The total population, on the other hand, has reached a new high: In 2021, more than 83.2 million people lived in Germany for the first time.
The age structure and thus also the proportion of young people differs from federal state to federal state. As a city state, Bremen had the highest proportion of 15 to 24 year olds at 11.0 percent at the end of 2021. The fewest young people live in Brandenburg with 8.0 percent, followed by Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania with 8.3 percent each.
In Germany, the number and proportion of 15 to 24-year-olds has been falling continuously since 2005, with the exception of 2015, as Destatis further announced. Young people had the highest proportion of the total population in the first half of the 1980s, when the baby boomers were in their teens. In 1983, 13.1 million people aged 15 to 24 made up 16.7 percent of the total population.
