The demographic structures in Germany have undergone fundamental changes since the period of industrialization:
The term demographic transition describes a development, which began in the middle of the 18th century and which is closely connected to the process of industrialization. After a starting phase, the radical developmental trends of the 19th century led to lasting changes in the generative behavior. The introduction of public old-age, health and social insurance [1] in the 1880s was an important initiative: from then on it was no longer necessary to have a large number of children in order to socially secure. Moreover, child labor was forbidden since 1879 - except in agriculture and working in the housekeeping sector. In addition a large number of children were obstructive to the chances of social advancement and the pressure of spatial mobility. The changed generative behavior diffused from the higher classes to the lower classes, from urban to rural regions and from Protestants to Catholics. As a result the birth rate decreased drastically from the beginning of the 20th century to the end of the 1920s and has stayed constantly low since then, as has the death rate. Compared to other European industrialized countries this process began later in Germany and the period, of only 30 years, was extremely short.
Until World War I the population dynamics took their course largely without being affected by population policy measures. This only changed in the liberal atmosphere during the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. For example the government passed a new version of the article on abortion (§ 218) [2] and liberalized the use of contraceptives. Already in 1933, when the National Socialists took over power, these reforms were revoked or even reversed. Abortions were strongly prosecuted and contraceptives were forbidden. Moreover, the National Socialists introduced incentives, which aimed at a so-called qualitative selection of population [3], such as the regulation to prevent the birth of children afflicted with a hereditary disease and the Nuremberg laws [4]. The aim was the preservation of the "Germanic race" propagated by the Nazi ideology.
Initially after World War II the development in both German states was fairly similar, but from the middle of the 60´s differences began to become apparent. Since about 1955 a remarkable increase of the birth rate an be registered in the FRG. The high number of marriages and the decreasing marrying age showed the willingness of people to risk a new beginning after the terrible experiences of the war. This tendency was made easier by the economic up-swing, which also made the "baby boom" of the late 1950s possible. This trend only lasted a few years. When the pill [5] was introduced in 1967 a technique existed which helped to realize the number of children wanted [6]. This led to the so-called Pillenknick [7] (sudden drop in birth rate) in West Germany: the number of births decreased drastically within less than ten years by more than 40%, the birth rate slowed down to less than 10‰. Consequently the FRG belonged to one of the countries with the lowest birth rates worldwide.
The government only undertook minor population policy measures [8] in order to counteract this trend. In general a laissez-faire policy was favored, although some incentives to support families have been introduced since 1955 such as children´s allowance. As a result the balance of natural population dynamics has stayed negative from the beginning of the 1970s up into the 1990s. Only since the middle of the 1980s has the birth rate increased slightly up to a little more than 10‰. but even such numbers belong still to the lowest worldwide. Only the immigration of guest workers and the higher birth frequency of this group has helped to prevent a distinct population decline in West Germany.
All in all the course of the birth rate was less regular in the GDR. Similar to West Germany, an increase in the number of births was registered until the middle of the 1960s, although the growth was mitigated to some extent by less favorable conditions such as political restrictions and housing shortages. The positive natural balance of these years was however not capable of compensating for the annual population losses caused by illegal emigration. After suffering a strong drop in the birth rate down to almost 10‰ an equally distinct and quick increase up to about 14‰ was registered in the 1980s. The economic-political developments of that time led to this result. During the 1970s the GDR passed through an economic up-swing, which allowed the introduction of a housing program in order to successfully fight the existing housing shortages. Moreover, in 1972 a policy of supporting birth frequency was created with birth bonuses, longer maternity leave and more suitable working time regulations for mothers of large families. The birth rate declined again when the economic conditions deteriorated at the end of the 1980s. After the Wende (turnover) the rates in the new German states dropped to a record low of 5.06‰ in 1994. A general insecurity related to income, work places and housing, as well as the selective migration of younger people to West Germany were the main causes responsible for this trend.
Besides the drastic changes in the generative behavior in East and West Germany life expectancy [9] has steadily increased - as in all comparable industrialized countries. In the middle of the 19th century people had a life expectancy of about 30 years. Around the turn of the century this value had already risen to 46 years and has risen further to around 76 years at present [10]. The differences between West [11] and East Germany [12] still exist but are decreasing. In total, Germany is faced with a fundamental transformation of the age structure [13], and again the structures of East and West Germany differ [14]. The age pyramid [15] is particularly characterized by a very high proportion of elderly people and an extraordinary low proportion of children and youth. At present the category of people eligible for pensions (> 60 years) is already more than 20% of the total population and this proportion is forecast to increase even further.
This over-aging of the population causes tremendous problems for the future and here the pension problem [16] has to be named as a central one. Old-age insurance in Germany is mainly organized as a public insurance based on the so-called Generationenvertrag [17] (generations pact). This agreement had a solid foundation in times of economic prosperity and strongly growing incomes, but it becomes increasingly questionable when looking at the present economic and demographic situation. This problem [18] and possible solutions [19] are extremely controversially discussed. The solutions reach from extending the life work period (extending the retirement age to over 65 years) through reducing the pension to restructuring the publicly based pension system strongly into one which is based on private old-age insurance.
Another characteristic of the present demographic situation are changes in the household structure and the average size of housing [20]. The number of households [21] has increase distinctly and the structure has changed significantly as well. Particularly the number of small sized households has grown within the last three decades (in particular in big cities), whereas the number of larger households has diminished steadily. About two thirds of the households have less than three members, the average household size is 2.2 persons. On the contrary a remarkable increase in housing size has to be reported. In 1995 each household occupied 83.6 sqm on average, that is more than 2 sqm above the size 10 years earlier. Almost 38 sqm are at the disposal of each citizen, whereby distinct differences between East [22] and West Germany [23] are striking. Especially the different sizes of households and housing can be interpreted as indicators for changing life styles in a so-called post industrial society.
A final view of the population structure is directed to religious affiliation. Such a view shows that Protestant and Catholic citizens [24], with 33% each, build the majority of the population of the present Germany. In addition the proportion of the Muslim population has grown remarkably due to the immigration of Turkish guest workers. Two further things also characterize the spatial distribution of religious affiliation in Germany. On one hand many more East than West German citizens do not affiliate to a religion, a consequence of the "Socialist heritage", and on the other hand a distinct spatial concentration [25] of both the big religious groups exist: the northern and eastern states are predominantly Protestant, the southern and western more Catholic - a heritage of former times.
A comprehensive overview of the actual demographic situation of the Federal Republic of Germany is given by the report on the demographic situation [26] by the Bundesinstitut für Bevölkerungsforschung.
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