The proportion of children in the German population is increasing slightly, but is still below the EU average, reports the Federal Statistical Office. The reason for the increase is higher birth rates.
The number of children in Germany rose slightly to 10.9 million in 2022. This means that girls and boys under the age of 13 make up 13 percent of the total population, the Federal Statistical Office announced on International Children’s Day on June 1st. At the beginning of 2015, the proportion of children in the population was 12.2 percent – which was a low.
Peak births in 2021:
One reason for the development is said to be higher birth rates. From 2010 to 2014, an average of around 682,200 children per year were born in Germany. From 2015 to 2020, on the other hand, there were an average of 775,600 children per year. The number of births in 2021 reached around 795,500 children, the highest level since 1997, but fell to 738,900 in 2022 according to preliminary information.
In the European Union, the average proportion of children in the population was slightly higher than in Germany: At the beginning of 2022, this value was 13.9 percent, according to the EU statistical authority Eurostat. The proportion of children was lower than in Germany in Italy at 11.7 percent, in Portugal at 11.8 percent, in Malta and Greece at 12.6 percent each, and in Spain at 12.9 percent. Ireland had the highest proportion of children in the total population with 18.3 percent, Sweden with 16.4 percent and France with 16.2 percent.
