By Aliyu DANLADI
The German population had hit 83 million by the end of 2018, up from 82.8 million the previous year, according to initial estimates released by the Federal Statistics Office on Friday.
“The figure, which was partly driven by immigration, marks a new high since German reunification in 1990.
“Births rose slightly during the year to between 785,000 and 805,000, with deaths rising more noticeably to between 950,000 and 970,000,’’ the statisticians said.
Net immigration came in at between 340,000 and 380,000, well down from the 416,000 recorded in 2017.
Immigration has declined steadily since a peak in 2015.
In its estimates, the Federal Statistics Office made use of data on births and deaths up to September 2018 and migration data up to August.
Final data on 2018 will be released between June and August.——– DPA
