With reunification Germany became the country with by far the largest population in the European Union. Around 82 million people live on German territory, almost one fifth of them in what was formerly East Germany. Three trends are characteristic of demographic developments in Germany: a low birth rate, increasing life expectancy and an ageing society.

For 30 years now Germany has been witnessing few births: With slight fluctuations, since 1975 the number of newborn infants has been approximately 1.3 children per woman. This means that for 30 years the generation of children has been smaller than that of their parents. High rates of immigration to Germany from other societies prevented the overall population from shrinking accordingly. At the same time life expectancy has risen continuously, and is now 77 years for men and 82 years for women.

The rise in Life expectancy and, to an even greater extent, the low birth rates are the reason for the third trend: The ratio of young people in the overall population is decreasing, that of elderly people rising: In the early 1990s there were almost three people of an employable age for every person over the age of 60. In the early 21st century, the ratio was only 1 to 2.2 and calculations indicate that within the next decade the ratio will already be less than 1 to 2. The ageing of society is one of the greatest challenges facing welfare and family policy. For this reason the pension insurance scheme has been undergoing re-structured for some time now: The traditional ”cross-generational contract“ (Cross-generational contract) is becoming less and less affordable, such that private individuals are supplementing it by making their own provisions for old age. In addition, family-related measures to increase the number of children are also being implemented.