Germany Is Aging: The Proportion of Young People Remains at a Historic Low

Young people remain a comparatively small demographic group in Germany. At the end of 2025, approximately 8.3 million people were between the ages of 15 and 24. This represents just 10.0 percent of the total population, according to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on the occasion of International Youth Day on August 12. As a result, the proportion of the younger generation remains at a historically low level.

From one in six to one in ten

A long-term comparison illustrates just how significantly Germany’s age structure has changed. In the early 1980s, the proportion of 15- to 24-year-olds reached its peak. In 1983, 16.7 percent of the population still belonged to this age group—roughly one in six people.

Today, it is only one in ten. The proportion of young people has remained at this low level since the early 2020s.

Immigration Increases the Proportion of the Young Population

The figures differ particularly markedly when considering immigration background. Among people without an immigration background, only 8.5 percent were between the ages of 15 and 24 in 2025. Among people with an immigration background, however, the proportion was 12.2 percent.

The figure is even higher among the descendants of immigrants. 20.4 percent of the descendants of two immigrant parents belong to the 15- to 24-year-old age group. Among people with one immigrant parent, the figure is 20.0 percent.

These figures thus also demonstrate the impact that immigration has on Germany’s demographic composition. Without immigrants and their descendants, the proportion of young people in the total population would be even lower.

Significant Differences Among the Federal States

The picture also varies by region. In 2025, Bremen had the highest proportion of young people at 11.1 percent, followed by Hamburg at 10.5 percent. Among the larger states, Baden-Württemberg leads with 10.4 percent.

By contrast, the proportion is particularly low in the eastern German states. In Brandenburg, only 8.8 percent of the population belongs to the 15–24 age group. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt, the figure is 9.1 percent in each case.

Germany is below the EU average

Even by European standards, Germany is among the countries with a relatively low proportion of young people. At the beginning of 2025, the German figure stood at 10.0 percent, below the EU average of 10.7 percent.

Ireland had the highest proportion within the European Union at 12.7 percent, followed by Denmark and the Netherlands, each at 12.2 percent. At the lower end were Malta at 9.4 percent and Bulgaria at 9.5 percent.

These figures thus underscore one of Germany’s long-term structural challenges: while the population is aging, the younger generation coming up behind it remains comparatively small. This poses an additional challenge, particularly for founders and startups. On the one hand, business models must be adapted to account for the proportions of the relevant target groups, and at the same time, the market for young, dynamic co-founders and employees is becoming increasingly competitive.