BERLIN (AP) - Germany's population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2006 and recorded the biggest drop since the country's reunification in 1990, the government said Friday, days after launching financial incentives designed to stall falling birth rates.
The number of births, meanwhile, was the lowest since World War II.
At the end of 2006, the number of people living in Germany was an estimated 82.3 million, 130,000 below the total at the end of 2005, the Federal Statistics Office said.
Germany's population grew in 2001 and 2002, but has fallen each year since. From 2003-2005 the population dropped by 5,000, 31,000 and 63,000, respectively.
German officials have been reluctant to ease immigration rules to bolster the work force, despite complaints from industry that there are not enough skilled workers in some areas. Demographers and economists say the problem will only grow worse, and that an aging population will put serious strains on pension funding and on the economy for lack of workers.
A recent government study forecast that the population could fall as low as 69 million by 2050.
During 2006, the agency said there were about 675,000 births, down from 686,000 recorded in 2005. The latest figure represents the fewest since World War II and far below the 922,000 births recorded in 1946, when the country lay in ruins after its defeat.
The population decline was also due to a drop in net immigration, from 79,000 in 2005 to between 20,000 and 30,000 last year, officials said.
"Immigration was nowhere near enough to make up for the births deficit," the statistics office said.
Starting Jan. 1, the parents of newborn children are entitled to share up to 14 months of leave from their jobs and receive about two-thirds of their net salaries in a bid to encourage couples to have more children.
The move, designed particularly to help working moms have more children, follows similar moves in other European countries concerned about their aging populations.
http://24hour.startribune.com/24hour/world/story/3464948p-12679397c.htmlWIESBADEN – As shown by estimates of the Federal Statistical Office, the number of inhabitants in Germany again declined in 2006. At the end of 2006, the assumed number of inhabitants amounted to approximately 82.31 million, while it still totalled 82.44 million a year ago.
Both the number of births and that of deaths is considered to have declined in 2006 from 2005: approximately 670,000 to 680,000 live births and approximately 820,000 to 830,000 deaths are assumed. In 2005, 686,000 children were born alive, while 830,000 persons deceased. For 2006, a surplus of deaths over births of about 150,000 is expected to emerge. In 2005, the deficit of births amounted to 144,000.
Compared with 2005, less persons are assumed to have migrated into Germany from abroad in 2006, and more persons have out-migrated from Germany. Hence, net inward migration is estimated at only about 20,000 to 30,000 in 2006. In 2005, the migration surplus was 79,000 persons. Net inward migration in 2006 was thus far from being sufficient to offset the birth deficit, and a population decline emerges like in the previous years.
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