Amid pandemic, Germany's young population reduces to all-time low levels

Germany's youth population, belonging to the 15 to 24 age group, has dropped to a record low even as the total population of the country grew in 2021, said a government data published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, Destatis.

Germany's cumulative population surpassed 83.2 million for the first time, statistics calculated at the end of 2021 showed. However, only 10 per cent of them belonged to the 15 to 24 age group, reaching the lowest point since the beginning of current records in 1950.

This came to an all-time low of just 8.3 million people in the age group at the end of 2021, as per the data. The percentage of young people has been falling since 2005, with the exception of the year 2015, the Destatis data showed.

The main reason for this development was found to be the unusually high death figures during the Covid-19 waves, it said.

Furthermore, the average life expectancy of newborn girls in Germany has fallen to 83.2 years, down by 0.4 years, and that of newborn boys 78.2 years in 2021, down by 0.6 years, according to the data.

Despite falling to record low levels, Germany's share of the youth population is on par with the European Union's average at 10.6 per cent, a Deutsche Welle report stated.

As per the statistics gathered by Eurostat, Germany's young people numbers are similar to countries like Spain and Austria, but way behind the Republic of Ireland, where young people constitute 12.6% of the population.