Demography. In accordance with modern European patterns of demographic development,
Germany's population rose from about 25 million in 1815 to over 60
million in 1914, despite heavy emigration. The population continued to
rise in the first half of this century, though this trend was hindered by
heavy losses in the two world wars. In 1997, the total population of
Germany was 82 million. Of this sum, nearly 67 million lived in former
West Germany, and just over 15 million lived in former East Germany. In
1939, the year Germany invaded Poland, the population of what was to
become West Germany was 43 million and the population of what was to
become East Germany was almost 17 million. This means that from 1939 to
1997, both the total population and the population of West Germany have
increased, while the population of East Germany has decreased.
Following World War II, the population of both parts of Germany rose
dramatically, due to the arrival of German refugees from the Soviet Union
and from areas that are now part of Poland and the Czech Republic. In
1950, eight million refugees formed 16 percent of the West German
population and over four million refugees formed 22 percent of the East
German population. Between 1950 and 1961, however, more than 2.5 million
Germans left the German Democratic Republic and went to the Federal
Republic of Germany. The building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 effectively
put an end to this German-German migration.
From 1945 to 1990, West Germany's population was further augmented
by the arrival of nearly four million ethnic Germans, who immigrated from
Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union or its successor states. These
so-called
Aussiedler
or return settlers took advantage of a provision in the constitution of
the Federal Republic of Germany, which grants citizenship to ethnic
Germans living outside of Germany.
Another boost to the population of West Germany has been provided by the
so-called
Gastarbeiter
(migrant or immigrant workers), mostly from Turkey, the Balkans, Italy,
and Portugal. Between 1961 and 1997, over 23 million foreigners came to
the Federal Republic of Germany; seventeen million of these, however,
later returned to their home countries. The net gain in population for
Germany was still well over 6 million, since those who remained in Germany
often established families.
The population of Germany is distributed in small to medium-sized local
administrative units, though, on the average, the settlements tend to be
larger in West Germany. There are only three cities with a population of
over 1 million: Berlin (3.4 million), Hamburg (1.7 million), and Munich
(1.2 million). Cologne has just under 1 million inhabitants, while the
next largest city, Frankfurt am Main, has a population of 650,000.
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