Ukrainian youth saves Germany from falling into demographic hole, – statistics

Migrants have been able to slow down the relentless aging of German society.

Ukrainian refugees have saved Germany from a demographic crisis, according to a report by Deutsche Welle based on an analysis of data from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).

The fact is that the proportion of young people in German society has been extremely low for many years now – people aged 15 to 24 in Germany make up no more than 10 percent of the total population. This figure has been gradually declining since 1983, when 13.2 million people aged 15 to 24 lived there. And at the end of 2024, there were already about 8.3 million people of this age living in the country.

But if it were not for the influx of Ukrainian citizens who left because of the war, this figure would be much lower. The department calculated that without immigrants, the share of young people at the end of 2024 would be only 8.6 percent. At the same time, according to Deutsche Welle, at the end of 2024, about 1.2 million refugees from Ukraine lived in Germany.

According to statistics, among people who have a migration background – that is, either they themselves or one of their parents was not born in Germany – about 12 percent of young people. It is significant that the highest proportion of young people – 20.7 percent – is observed among the descendants of immigrants. Among people who have only one immigrant parent, the proportion of young people is also high – 20 percent. Among immigrants themselves, this figure is 9.2 percent.

(c)UNIAN 2025