Because of the influx of refugees from the Ukraine, more people live in Germany than ever before.

In the first half of 2022, the number of inhabitants rose to over 84 million for the first time, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday.

On June 30, 2022, 843,000 more people lived in the Federal Republic than at the end of 2021, which corresponds to a population growth of 1.0 percent.

Increases of this magnitude since reunification have only occurred in 1992 (+700,000) as a result of the opening of borders in Eastern Europe and the war in what was then Yugoslavia, and in 2015 with the then refugee migration (+978,000).

For comparison: In the whole of 2021, the population had increased by 82,000 people or a minimum of 0.1 percent.

750,000 Ukrainians fled to Germany

The decisive factor for the current development is the influx of refugees from Ukraine as a result of the Russian war of aggression: In the first half of the year there was a net immigration of around 750,000 Ukrainians to Germany.

Overall, according to preliminary results, net immigration was around 1.0 million people.

It was seven times higher than in the first half of 2021 with 134,000.

At the same time, 161,000 more people died in Germany between January and June than were born at the same time.

This slowed population growth.

At 526,000 (+1.2 percent), the number of women and girls living in Germany rose significantly faster than the number of men and boys at 317,000 (+0.8 percent).

This reflects that mainly women and children fled Ukraine before the war: At the end of June 2022, 501,000 more Ukrainian women and girls were living in Germany than at the end of 2021. The number of Ukrainian men and boys increased by 248,000.

According to the statisticians, the number of inhabitants rose in all federal states, but varied from region to region: the strongest growth was in Berlin (+1.3 percent), Bavaria and Hesse (both +1.2 percent).

Bremen (+0.5 percent), Thuringia (+0.6 percent) and Saarland (+0.7 percent), on the other hand, recorded the smallest increases in relative terms.