Census Shows New Drop in Germany’s Population

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

It’s as if Leipzig, Hanover and Dresden had all disappeared in the blink of an eye, at least statistically speaking.

Germany, a country already deeply concerned about its rapidly dwindling population, released the results of its first census in nearly a quarter of a century and found 1.5 million fewer inhabitants than previously assumed.

Chancellor Angela Merkel already was concerned about the shrinking numbers of taxpayers and able-bodied workers. The question of how the coming, smaller generations would pay back German debts, much less the mounting liabilities and guarantees meant to contain the euro-zone debt crisis is a central one here.

The census news, that Germany has 80.2 million people rather than 81.7 million, announced Friday by the Federal Statistical Office, accelerates an existing trend. But that does not lessen the repercussions for upended notions about everything from the economy to integration of migrants, who were responsible for a majority of the missing people.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/01/world/europe/census-shows-new-drop-in-germanys-population.html

[DFW]

1. In all probability, Germany has more people rather than less

Its generous (even now, when compared to the east and the south of Europe) welfare benefits, light (to no) punishment for crime and good medical care attracts people from all over the European Union, and there are plenty (both EU citizens and not) who hang out here in Germany without ever declaring that they are here. If you don't make waves and don't need to buy high-ticket luxury cars or houses, chances are you could live here fairly easily under the radar. Germany may not get income taxes from people like that--to the extent that they would be paying any to begin with--but the government would get the 19% VAT on every euro they spent, and people in that income bracket spend just about every cent they get. Just like many of the Mexicans in Texas--they may not be on the books, but they do us a lot of good all the same. Unlike Texas, however, it's a lot easier here to get yourself registered in several cities at once and collect welfare in all of them--pretty much a textbook definition of what the Soviets called "parasitism." While my wife was an active social worker here, people like that drove her nuts, as they were stealing from people who really needed the break.

[RobertEarl]

2. How far away is Chernobyl?

And why is it that Germany has declared themselves to become free of nuke power plants? Do the Germans know something we don't? Of course they do.