Data released Tuesday by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) indicates the country’s population stood at 798 million at the end of 1990 and reached 836 million by the end of 2024
Population trends have varied significantly across the German states since reunification Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein experienced the most substantial growth, with increases of 16%, 14% and 13% respectively Conversely, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern registered the largest declines in population compared to 1990, decreasing by 26%, 20% and 18% respectively
Overall, the population in eastern Germany (excluding Berlin) decreased by 16% between 1990 and 2024, falling to 124 million residents In contrast, western Germany saw a 10% increase to 675 million In 1990, 77% of the total population lived in western states and 18% in eastern states, with the remainder in Berlin By 2024, this distribution had shifted to 81% in the west and 15% in the east
Following German reunification, a westward population movement occurred Between 1991 and 2024, approximately 12 million more people moved from east to west Germany than vice versa Berlin is excluded from this calculation
Roughly half of this significant eastward migration occurred within the first decade following reunification In 1991, around 165,000 people left eastern states for the west This cumulative net migration totaled approximately 611,000 people by the year 2000 Over the subsequent ten years, up to 2010, an additional 553,000 people migrated from east to west
In the 2010s, this trend slowed, with a net eastward migration of approximately 70,000 people between 2011 and 2016 From 2017 to 2022, a reversal occurred for the first time in the history of the Federal Republic, with more people moving from western to eastern states (a positive balance of +18,000) This trend reversed again in 2023, with the eastern states experiencing a net outflow of residents to the west (-3,000) This pattern continued in 2024, with a net migration of -4,000 people from east to west
