Articles / population / Germany

Germany needs 400,000 newcomers a year just to hold steady

ألمانيا تحتاج 400 ألف وافد سنوياً لتحافظ على حجمها

2026-07-26

Germany records roughly 12 deaths per 1,000 people each year and fewer than 9 births. Without migration, the population would fall by several hundred thousand annually, and the workforce faster still, as the large 1960s cohorts retire.

Government studies put the needed net inflow around 400,000 people a year to keep the labour force stable. The skilled-worker immigration law of 2023 was written with exactly that number in mind.

Pensions, care homes, train schedules: German politics keeps rediscovering that demography is the budget behind the budget.