Fact is, Germans are now living longer and having fewer babies. There are many reasons for the declining birth rate in Germany, from the country's high jobless rates and bleak employment prospects to career pressures to lack of day care to lifestyle choices, to name a few.
Most European countries have low fertility rates because various obstacles prevent people from having their desired number of children. The 'Reproductive decision-making in a macro-micro perspective' (REPRO) project was established to gain insights into these obstacles.
The primary reason cited for the unwillingness to have children is the sheer expense. The German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) calculates that a child costs on average €600 each month; in other words, parents would end up spending some €130,000 on each child until they reach the age of 18 years.
In 2022, around 739,000 children were born in Germany, according to provisional results. The number of births was therefore 5.6% lower compared with the average for the years 2019 to 2021, and was down 7.1% from 2021, a year marked by a high number of births.
In 2021, France had the highest total fertility in the EU (1.84 live births per woman), followed by Czechia (1.83), Romania (1.81) and Ireland (1.78). In contrast, the lowest fertility rates were seen in Malta (1.13 births per woman), Spain (1.19) and Italy (1.25).
"We think that couples' fears of a health and social crisis at the time of the first wave of Covid-19 contributed to the decrease in live births nine months later,” he said. In March 2021, births had rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, but it did not account for the decline two months before.
France's leg up is partly due to women's role in the workforce, according to Jackson. He argues that a “work-family balance is at the heart of it.” Countries that are able to facilitate balancing women's desire to work and have a family have higher fertility rates.
German passports are only issued to German citizens. Having German ancestors resp. the fact that your father and/or your mother was/were born in Germany is unfortunately not enough to attain German citizenship. Rather, your father and/or mother have to have been German citizens at the time of your birth.
German citizenship is mainly acquired and passed on through descent from a German parent. The parent has to be German citizen at the time of the birth of the child. Children who are born to former German citizens do not acquire German citizenship.
Incessant wars, religious conflicts, famines, political grievances and a lack of prospects forced many people to leave Germany over the centuries. The land's relative population loss was enormous. An estimated six million emigrants left Germany between 1820 and 1920. A large portion immigrated to the USA.
In Germany, polygamy is illegal, legally punishable with fine or prison time up to three years.
In eight EU Member States the average mean age of women at the birth of their first child was over 30 years in 2020, for example in Italy and Spain. With a mean age of 29.9 years women in Germany were placed in the top third in an EU comparison.
Number of children per woman in Germany 1990-2021
In 2021, there were approximately 1.58 children born per woman in Germany, a steady increase compared to 1.45 in 1990. This statistic shows the development of the fertility rate in Germany from 1990 to 2021.
According to Statistics Finland, this decline is due to families opting not to have a second or third child. Finnish researchers say the declining fertility rate is related to cultural and social changes leading to higher standards for starting a family.
Fertility rates in Asia
South Korea has the lowest fertility rate globally at 0.9 children per woman, closely followed by Puerto Rico at 1.0 and a trio of Malta, Singapore, and the Chinese Special Administrative Region Hong Kong all at 1.1 children per woman.
The most important reasons are 1) the increased number of single people and 2) the increased average age of women having their first child. The latter increase began in 1988. Most Spanish women now have their first child between the ages of 30 and 39 years.
Nationality is a reference to the country of your birth and/or citizenship. So all people born in Germany are Germans in that sense. However, there is also a German ethnicity, a genealogical/linguistic commonality amongst many of the people who live in Germany.
German ethnicity emerged in medieval times among the descendants of the Romanized Germanic peoples in the area of modern western Germany, between the Rhine and Elbe rivers, particularly the Franks, Frisians, Saxons, Thuringii, Alemanni and Baiuvarii.
If you do have family ties, then you may be eligible to apply for German citizenship by descent. This means that if one of your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents was a German citizen, then you may also be one!
If not, having a child with a German woman will not grant you the right to stay automatically. There is a way to get a residence permit if you decide that both of you will take care of the child. It is called "Aufenthaltserlaubnis zur Personensorge".
Quality of life
Overall, Germany is a great place to live. It has a high standard of living, a strong economy, and plenty of cultural and entertainment options for an excellent work-life balance. The cost of living can be high in the major cities, but there are many benefits to living in Germany.
Overstaying the six-month limit period with regard to stays abroad. As a rule, a residence title expires if its holder remains abroad for more than six months without interruption (section 51 subsection (1) No. 7 of the Residence Act).
This paper explains how Swedish public policies are largely responsible for the high fertility rate: Sweden offers a 'speed premium' that encourages couples to produce multiple children in short succession; they offer exceptionally generous maternal and paternal leave benefits; they offer excellent state-funded ...
France has the highest fertility rate
In 2021, France had the highest fertility rate among the EU member states with 1.84 live births per woman according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU.
There was a sudden drop in fertility after the collapse of communism, brought on not by the social changes but by economic misery and social collapse. At a time when the future was uncertain, childbearing was postponed and birthrates fell precipitously.