Population

Between 1990 and 2002, the population centre in Germany shifted by about 20 kilometres to the southwest. In 1990, the centre of population gravity was located within the territory of the municipality of Ludwigsau in the rural district (Landkreis) of Hersfeld-Rotenburg (Hessen). Due to the differing population trends in the eastern and western Länder, however, the centre has moved into the territory of the municipality of Niederaula in the same rural district since Germany's reunification.

The population centre describes the physical centre of the population's spatial distribution. If the population was evenly distributed across the whole territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, the population centre would be located at the same point as the geographical centre. Because of the uneven distribution, however, the two centres are not identical. If the population to the east of the centre point declines while it increases in the west, the population centre will also shift to the west. One could imagine the population centre as the point at which Germany's territory would be in equilibrium. The population centre is computed on the basis of the numbers of inhabitants in the rural districts and towns not attached to an administrative district (Kreisfreie Städte). Any shift of the population centre reflects differing trends in the regional population development in Germany.

The fact that the population centre has shifted to the southwest since Germany's reunification is due to the population development in the eastern Länder. High levels of out-migration and a large deficit of births have resulted in a population decrease in these Länder which has not been offset by immigration from abroad. As compared with the former territory of the Federal Republic (excluding Berlin-West), total out-migration from the new Länder including Berlin amounted to 1.1 million persons in the period from 1990 to 2002, and the deficit of births was about 1.0 million. As regards total net immigration from abroad, which was about 4.5 million persons for the whole of Germany, it was the western Länder which, with almost 4 million, received the vast majority of those immigrants. At the end of 2002, a total of 17.0 million people were living in the new Länder including Berlin and 65.5 million in the western Länder, while these totals had amounted to 18.2 million and 61.6 million, respectively, at the end of 1990.