Data released Tuesday by the Statistical Federal Office (Destatis) reveals significant variations in the age profiles across Germany’s states and municipalities. Hamburg emerged as the youngest state in 2024, with an average age of 42.2 years. Berlin (42.8 years) and Bremen (43.1 years) followed closely behind.
Among the states classified as “Flächenländer” (states with contiguous territory), Baden-Württemberg registered the lowest average age at 44.0 years. Conversely, Saxony-Anhalt held the distinction of being the state with the oldest population, reporting an average age of 48.3 years. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (48.1 years) and Thuringia (47.9 years) also exhibited relatively older demographic profiles. The nationwide average age for all German residents stood at 44.9 years in 2024.
Demographic trends also reflected differing age structures. Hamburg displayed the most favorable ratio of working-age individuals (20-64 years) to older residents (65 years and over), with 28.6 individuals aged 65 or older for every 100 individuals in the 20-64 age bracket. This ratio, often referred to as the “old-age ratio” peaked in Saxony-Anhalt at 51.9. Across Germany as a whole, there were an average of 38.8 individuals aged 65 or older for every 100 individuals aged 20-64.
Interestingly, stark contrasts were also observed at the municipal level. The youngest municipality in Germany in 2024 was Lautzenhausen, located in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, with an average age of 33.7 years for its 1,122 residents. Remarkably, the oldest municipality, Welschenbach in the Mayen-Koblenz district of Rhineland-Palatinate, resides just a short distance from the youngest, boasting an average age of 63.0 years for its 48 inhabitants.
