Germany saw another large wave of immigration towards the end of the 20th century, driven by German reunification, refugee inflows from the Yugoslav Wars and large numbers of Turkish nationals seeking asylum. The liberalisation of guest worker legislation allowed many to stay and build a life in West Germany. Large-scale immigration to West Germany began during the time of the Wirtschaftswunder from the 1950s to early 1970s when Germany had a shortage of workers and let in Southern Europeans from countries like Turkey, Italy and Spain on a temporary basis as guest workers. Some additional 4.5 million ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe repatriated after 1950, especially around the end of the Eastern Bloc and mostly from the former Soviet Union, Poland and Romania. Of these, roughly 12 million made their way to present-day Germany and several hundred thousand settled in Austria and other countries, while several hundred thousand died. However, after World War II immigration began to outweigh emigration, as around 14 million ethnic Germans were expelled from the former eastern provinces of the Reich and other areas in Eastern Europe. Until the early 20th century Germany was also a large emigrant nation in the 19th century more than 5 million citizens of the German Empire emigrated to the US alone, and in the early 20th century Germany lost another two million to the US as well as significant numbers to Latin America, Canada and Eastern Europe. In 2019 the number of people with a foreign background was 26% this category includes foreigners, naturalized citizens, ethnic German repatriates from Eastern Europe and the children of all of the above. However, due to immigration the population has actually increased during the last half-century. Due to the low birth rate Germany has recorded more deaths than births every year since 1972, which means 2021 was the 50th consecutive year the German population would have decreased without immigration. For a long time Germany had one of the world's lowest fertility rates of around 1.3 to 1.4, however there has been a small increase in recent years. The total fertility rate was rated at 1.58 in 2021, significantly below the replacement rate of 2.1. According to the most recent data, Germany's population is 84,607,016 (30 September 2023) making it the most populous country in the European Union and the nineteenth-most populous country in the world. The demography of Germany is monitored by the Statistisches Bundesamt ( Federal Statistical Office of Germany). Source: DESTATIS (after 1950), Histat (1850−1940 Reich Boundaries), Max Planck Society (1500−1840 Reich Boundaries (incl. Population between 18 Population density in Germany, by kreis/district Population density in 1925 Historical population Year Population pyramid as of 31 December 2020
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