The number of babies born in Germany in 2025 fell to its lowest level since postwar records began in 1946, intensifying demographic pressure on Europe’s largest economy.
According to the federal statistics office, just over 654,000 children were born in the country—compared with 1.36 million at the peak of the baby boom in 1964. At the same time, the number of deaths stood at about 1.01 million, and the gap between deaths and births exceeded 352,000, reaching its highest level in the postwar period.
Germany’s Demographic Problem
Germany is already confronting one of the bleakest demographic situations in Europe: by 2050, its population could shrink by about 5% compared with the 2025 level. A declining labour force is adding pressure to an economy whose growth remains weak after the sharp rise in energy costs that followed Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.
The situation is being compounded by weak domestic demand, falling exports because of competition from China, and trade measures introduced by Donald Trump’s administration.
The drop in employment is expected to become especially visible in the coming years as the baby-boomer generation retires, companies warn, anticipating a shortage of skilled labour.
“This new anti-record underlines the scale of the challenges we will face in the coming decades. Unlike in the past, we are now beginning to feel the real consequences,” said Ulrich Kater, chief economist at DekaBank, pointing to growing pressure on the federal budget and the social-support system.
According to forecasts by the statistics office, by 2035 one in four people in Germany will be older than 67. Chancellor Friedrich Merz is trying to encourage employment among older people by allowing pensioners to earn up to 2,000 euros a month tax-free.
The growing number of pensioners is increasing the strain on the pension system, which is financed by contributions from workers. “The state pension insurance system will, at best, only be able to provide a basic level of income in old age,” Merz said earlier, triggering tension within the coalition with the Social Democrats.
Earlier measures by Angela Merkel’s government to support young families led to a temporary rise in births: in the decade to 2021, the number of births increased by 20%—to nearly 800,000, the highest level in three decades. Over the past four years, however, the figure has fallen again.
As the statistics office notes, the fall in births is driven both by a decline in the number of people aged 30–39 and by the fact that women are, on average, having fewer children. The current generation in that age group is smaller because of the collapse in birth rates after German reunification in 1990 and rising unemployment in the eastern regions.
The average number of children per woman has fallen over the past four years to a record low of 1.35. The decline in births has been more pronounced in the eastern states, where the figure fell by 4.5% in 2025, compared with 3.2% in western Germany.