Germany has a total population of 82,431,390. As is teh case in many industrialized countries, the German population has grown substantially older on the average since the early 20th century. This is a result of declining birth rates and the shrinking of family size as Germans have chosen to have fewer children. In addition, the numbers of single-parent and one-person househols are increasing.
The German population is overwhelmingly urban.Germany has more than three dozen cities exceeding 200,000 residents, and 12 metropolises wiht more that 500,000 residents. Three of Germany's federal states are city-states: Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg. Berlin is the capital and largest city. Germany's population density is highest in the northwest, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), which includes Germany's old industrial heartland, the Ruhr Valley, and a number of largeciteis. Population density is lower in teh former East Germany and in teh more rural states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), and Bavaria. |
