SAARLAND - Population
Birth deficit the defining feature of population trend
The Saarland population grew continuously from the end of the Second World War through to the beginning of the 1970s, the main contributory factors being high net migration gains in the immediate post-war years and a considerable excess of births over deaths.
An excess of deaths over births was first recorded in 1971, and the birth deficit has persisted in varying degrees up to the present day. As early as the mid-1960s, a net migration loss arose, marking the start of a trend that continued until 1988. In the period 1988 to 1996, markedly positive migration balances were once again recorded, mainly on account of an influx of Germans from the territory of the former GDR and of ethnic-German immigrants from eastern Europe. Since then, the migration balance has varied, but can no longer offset the birth deficit.
The population of Saarland is increasingly ageing. In 1950, more than one Saarland resident in four was under 18 years of age. In 2002 only one in six fell into that category. Over the same period, the proportion of people over the age of 60 increased markedly to stand at 26%, compared with 12% in 1950.
The proportion of foreigners, which in 1951 was not even as much as 1% (more than half of the people concerned were French nationals), rose over the years to stand at 7% of the population in 2002. Today, Italians make up the largest group of foreigners by far, and many of them belong to the second and third generations living in Saarland.
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