Demographics of Berlin

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-54121-0003, Berlin, Waldlaufmeisterschaften.jpg

File:Population pyramid of Berlin in 1946.svg

The city responded to the 1685 revocation of the Edict of Nantes in France with the Edict of Potsdam, which guaranteed religious freedom and tax-free status to French Huguenot refugees for ten years. Thanks to its role as the capital of rising Prussia, the population grew steadily: it surpassed the 100,000 mark in 1747 and the one-million mark in 1877.

Growth accelerated in the 19th century with the industrialisation after the Napoleonic Wars and the Prussian Reforms. Only about 40% of Berliners in the last quarter of the 19th century were natives of the city. Nevertheless, Berlin's population remained ethnically and even regionally very homogeneous: In 1895, over 98% of inhabitants spoke German as their native language. Among the rest were 12,000 Polish speakers, 700 Russophones and about 2,000 other Slavs. In 1900, most of the 1.9 million Berliners originated from the eastern provinces of Prussia. A fifth hailed from the surrounding province of Brandenburg, 9% from the provinces of West and East Prussia, 7% from Silesia, 6% from Pomerania, 5% from Posen, 4% from Saxony. Only about 3 to 4% had come to the city from other German regions and only about 1.5% from abroad, mostly from Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire.Rounded numbers, compiled from: Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.): Geschichte Berlins. Vol. II. Von der Märzrevolution bis zur Gegenwart. C. H. Beck, München 1987, pp. 692–697; Otto-Friedrich Gandert, Berthold Schulze, Ernst Kaeber and others (eds.): Heimatchronik Berlin. Archiv für deutsche Heimatpflege, Köln 1962, p. 427; Max Mechow: Die Ost- und Westpreußen in Berlin. Ein Beitrag zur Bevölkerungsgeschichte der Stadt. Haude & Spener, Berlin 1975, pp. 112-113; Königliches statistisches Bureau [Royal Statistical Bureau] (ed.): Statistisches Handbuch für den preußischen Staat. Verlag des königlichen statistischen Bureaus, Berlin 1898, concerning the native language pp. 128-129, concerning the percentage of foreigners pp. 114-115.

Between 1913 and 1917, the population fell by about 16% down to 1.744 million people, mostly due to men serving in World War I, but recovered somewhat after the armistice, reaching 1.928 million people in December 1919. In December 1917, during the latter part of the war, there were 58,152 military personnel and 4,017 prisoners-of-war in the city.

The industrialisation had brought about a rapid expansion of the suburbs, many of them developed explicitly for workers of specific factories, e.g. Siemensstadt and Borsigwalde. The Greater Berlin Act of 1920 (Groß-Berlin-Gesetz) boosted the population by incorporating many hitherto autonomous towns and cities, e.g. Spandau and Köpenick at the margins of the modern metropolis, but also Charlottenburg, nowadays almost in the heart of the city. The city approximately reached its modern extent, growing from {{convert|66|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} to {{convert|883|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. This expansion made Berlin the most populous city proper of Continental Europe in the interwar period (though not the largest agglomerationParis had a more populous agglomeration although the city proper was much smaller, cf. Paris#Media) and the third-largest in the world behind London and New York.

The four-million mark was surpassed in the 1920s, and in 1942, the officially registered population reached its maximum of 4.48 million, although because of the war conditions, this was an overestimation. More likely estimates based on food rationing data show lower numbers of 3.95 million people in February 1942 and only 3.11 million people in February 1944 (incl. 177,000 foreigners) when aerial attacks approached its most intense phase.{{cite book|editor1-last=Statistisches Bundesamt|title=Statistische Berichte, Arb.-Nr. VIII/19/1. Die Zivilbevölkerung des Deutschen Reiches 1940-1945. Ergebnisse der Verbrauchergruppen-Statistik|date=1953|location=Wiesbaden|pages=13, 24}}

In the context of the more general huge population movements in immediately post-war Germany, a significant part of Berlin's pre-war population permanently resettled to other parts of Germany or abroad. A 1946 census counted 436,600 Berliners in the western occupation zones and 306,823 in the Soviet zone. In 1950, this number had risen to 518,218 in what had now become the Federal Republic.{{cite book|editor1-last=Statistisches Bundesamt|title=Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1953|pages=XXXII, 41, 561|language=German}} Since the end of World War II, the city population has been fluctuating between 3 and 3.5 million, with a low of less than 3.1 million from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s.{{cite book|title=Statistisches Jahrbuch 2011|date=2011|page=32|url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/PRODUKTE/jahrbuch/jb2011/JB_2011_BE.pdf|accessdate=26 May 2017}} Between 1950 and 1961, so between the establishment of the Soviet-backed German Democratic Republic and the construction of the Berlin Wall, most of the losses were incurred by East Berlin, while West Berlin showed modest growth of 2.3%.

Moving to West Berlin was attractive for those from West Germany who wished to avoid the draft from 1957 to 1990, because the special administrative status of the city meant that the draft could not be enforced there.

Asylum policies in West Berlin triggered waves of immigration during the 1960s and 1970s. Berlin is home to about 250,000 Turks (especially in Kreuzberg, Neukölln and Wedding, a locality in the borough of Mitte),{{Cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/berlin-shish-and-sauerkraut-to-go-448678.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514033307/http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/berlin-shish-and-sauerkraut-to-go-448678.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 14, 2011|title=Berlin: Shish And Sauerkraut To Go|first=Andrew|last=Spooner|work=The Independent |location=UK |date=13 May 2007|accessdate=24 May 2010}} the largest Turkish community outside Turkey.{{cite web |title=How Berlin Became the World's Second Turkish... |url=https://theculturetrip.com/europe/germany/articles/how-berlin-became-the-worlds-second-turkish-capital |website=Culture Trip |language=en |date=6 March 2018}}

During the 1990s, the Aussiedlergesetze enabled immigration to Germany of residents of the former Soviet Union. Ethnic Germans from countries from the former Soviet Union make up the largest portion of the Russian-speaking community.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130406142034/http://www.russiajournal.com/node/4653 Berlin is speaking Russians' language]}}. The Russia Journal. 10 March 2001. Immigration continues from a number of Western countries, particularly by young people from Germany and other parts of Europe.

The number of Arabic speakers in Berlin could be higher than 150,000. There are at least 40,000 Berliners with Syrian citizenship, third only behind Turkish and Polish citizens. The 2015 refugee crisis made Berlin Europe's capital of Arab culture.{{cite web |title=Berlin: Inside Europe's capital of Arab culture |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/berlin-germany-europe-capital-arab-culture |website=Middle East Eye}}

Berlin is among the cities in Germany that have received the biggest amount of refugees after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. As of November 2022, estimated 85,000 Ukrainian refugees were registered in Berlin,{{cite news |title=Berlin to create 10,000 extra beds for Ukrainian refugees – DW – 11/20/2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/berlin-to-create-10000-more-beds-for-ukrainian-refugees/a-63811862 |work=dw.com |language=en}} making Berlin the most popular destination of Ukrainian refugees in Germany.{{cite web |title=Survey of Ukrainian War Refugees |url=https://www.bmi.bund.de/SharedDocs/kurzmeldungen/EN/2022/04/survey-ukraine.html |website=Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community |language=en}}

File:Berlin population2.svg.]]

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File:Metropolregion Berlin-Brandenburg Einwohnerdichte.svg

On 31 December 2015, the city-state of Berlin had a population of 3,520,031 registered inhabitants{{cite web|url=https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/BasisZeitreiheGrafik/Bas-Einwohnerregister.asp?Ptyp=300&Sageb=12041&creg=BBB&anzwer=11|title=Einwohner am Ort der Hauptwohnung am 31. Dezember 2015|work=Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg|accessdate=13 June 2016|language=German}} in an area of {{convert|891.85|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}. Berlin in 2009 was estimated to have another 100,000 to 250,000 non-registered inhabitants.{{cite web|author=Von Andrea Dernbach |url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/deutschland/berlin-will-illegalen-einwanderern-helfen/1452916.html |title=Migration: Berlin will illegalen Einwanderern helfen – Deutschland – Politik – Tagesspiegel |publisher=Tagesspiegel.de |date=23 February 2009 |accessdate=15 September 2011}} The city's population density was 4,048 inhabitants per km². Berlin is the most populous city proper in the EU.

The urban area of Berlin comprised about 4.1 million people in 2014 in an area of {{convert|1347|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, making it the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union.[http://www.demographia.com/db-worldua.pdf Demographia: World Urban Areas]. Retrieved 6 September 2015. The urban agglomeration of the metropolis was home to about 4.5 million in an area of {{convert|5370|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}.

As of 2014, the functional urban area was home to about 5 million people in an area of approximately {{convert|15000|km²|0|abbr=on}}.[http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en Population on 1 January by age groups and sex – functional urban areas, Eurostat]. Retrieved 29 September 2016. The entire Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has a population of more than 6 million in an area of {{convert|30370|km²|0|abbr=on}}.{{in lang|de}} [http://www.deutsche-metropolregionen.org/mitglieder/berlin-brandenburg/ Hauptstadtregion Berlin-Brandenburg]

In 2014, the city state Berlin had 37,368 live births (+6.6%), a record number since 1991. The number of deaths was 32,314. Almost 2 million households were counted in the city. 54 percent of them were single-person households. More than 337,000 families with children under the age of 18 lived in Berlin. In 2014 the German capital registered a migration surplus of approximately 40,000 people.[https://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/kleinestatistik/AP_kleinestatistik_en_2015_be.pdf statistics Berlin Brandenburg]. www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de Retrieved 10 October 2016.

File:Berlin Subdivisions.svg

File:Crowd at the MyFest in Berlin Kreuzberg.jpg

{{See also||Turks in Berlin|Kurds in Berlin|Arabs in Berlin|Vietnamese community of Berlin}}

File:Obamas with children at U.S. embassy in Berlin, 2013.jpg

File:Einwohnerinnen und Einwohner ohne Migrationshintergrund in Berlin am 31. Dezember 2020 nach Bezirken.svg

As of December 2013 there were approximately 1,000,000 people (about 30 percent of the population) with an immigrant background living in Berlin, with significant differences in their distribution. The immigrant community is diverse, with Middle Easterners (including Turkish and Kurdish people and Arabs), smaller numbers of East Asians, Sub-Saharan Africans and other European immigrants, Eastern Europeans forming the largest groups.[http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/Publikationen/Stat_Berichte/2011/SB_A1-5_hj02-10_BE.pdf Melderechtlich registrierte Einwohner im Land Berlin am 31. Dezember 2010]{{cite web|url=http://www.morgenpost.de/berlin-aktuell/article1592839/Jeder-vierte-Berliner-hat-auslaendische-Wurzeln.html |title=Migration – Jeder vierte Berliner hat ausländische Wurzeln – Berlin Aktuell – Berliner Morgenpost – Berlin |work=Berliner Morgenpost - Berlin |publisher=Morgenpost.de |date=30 March 2011 |accessdate=15 September 2011}} Since the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union there has been a Romani influx. About 70,000 Afro-Germans live in Berlin.{{cite web|author=Yonis Ayeh |url=http://www.isdonline.de |title=ISD Online • Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland |publisher=Isdonline.de |date=|accessdate=15 September 2011}}

There are more than 25 non-indigenous communities with a population of at least 10,000 people, including Turkish, Kurdish, Polish, Russian, Croatian, Palestinian, Serbian, Italian, Bosnian, Vietnamese, American, Romanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Austrian, Ghanaian, Ukrainian, French, British, Spanish, Israeli, Thai, Iranian, Egyptian and Syrian communities.{{Cite web |url=http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/statis/login.do?guest=guest&db=EWRBEE |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-09-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513051153/http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/statis/login.do?guest=guest&db=EWRBEE |archive-date=2016-05-13 |url-status=dead }}

Residents without a migration background in Berlin tend to live in the former parts of East Berlin, while parts where the former West Berlin used to be are more diverse.

{{Clear}}

In 2015, the total labour force in Berlin was 1.85 million. The unemployment rate reached a 24-year low in November 2015 and stood at 10.0% .{{cite news|url=http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft/arbeitsmarkt-in-berlin-berlin-hat-so-wenig-arbeitslose-wie-seit-24-jahren-nicht,10808230,32678128.html|title=Berlin hat so wenig Arbeitslose wie seit 24 Jahren nicht|publisher=Berliner Zeitung|accessdate=1 November 2015|language=German|archive-date=3 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151203224849/http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/wirtschaft/arbeitsmarkt-in-berlin-berlin-hat-so-wenig-arbeitslose-wie-seit-24-jahren-nicht,10808230,32678128.html|url-status=dead}} From 2012 to 2015 Berlin, as a German state, had the highest annual employment growth rate. Around 130,000 jobs were added in this period.{{cite news|url=http://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/rekord-in-der-hauptstadt-in-berlin-gibt-es-so-viele-beschaeftigte-wie-nie-zuvor,10809148,33634676.html|title=In Berlin gibt es so viele Beschäftigte wie nie zuvor|publisher=Berliner Zeitung |date=28 January 2015|accessdate=16 February 2016|language=German}}

File:Berlin, Mitte, Neue Schoenhauser Strasse 20, Kurt-Berndt-Hoefe.jpg, German language academy, in Berlin Mitte]]

;German

{{Main|German language}}

German is the official and predominant spoken language in Berlin. It is a West Germanic language that derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. German is one of 24 languages of the European Union,{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/languages/policy/linguistic-diversity/official-languages-eu_en.htm |title=Official Languages |author=European Commission |accessdate=29 July 2014}} and one of the three working languages of the European Commission.

;Berlin dialect

{{main|Berlinerisch dialect}}

Berlinerisch or Berlinisch is a variety of High German. It is spoken in Berlin and the surrounding metropolitan area. It originates from a Brandenburgish variant. The regiolect is now seen more as a sociolect, largely through increased immigration and trends among the educated population to speak standard German in everyday life.

;International languages

The most commonly spoken foreign languages in Berlin are English, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Polish, Kurdish, Vietnamese, Serbian, Croatian, Greek, and other Asian languages.

Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish, Serbian and Croatian are heard more often in the western part, due to the large Middle Eastern and former-Yugoslavian communities; Vietnamese, Russian and Polish have more native speakers in eastern Berlin.{{cite web|url=http://www.morgenpost.de/printarchiv/wirtschaft/article1309952/Zwei-Millionen-Berliner-sprechen-mindestens-zwei-Sprachen.html |title=Studie – Zwei Millionen Berliner sprechen mindestens zwei Sprachen – Wirtschaft – Berliner Morgenpost – Berlin |work=Berliner Morgenpost - Berlin |publisher=Morgenpost.de |date=18 May 2010 |accessdate=2 June 2011 |last1=Fahrun |first1=Joachim }} English, Vietnamese, Russian, and Polish have more native speakers in eastern Berlin.

{{Main|Religion in Berlin}}

{{Pie chart

|thumb = right

|caption = Religions in Berlin (2010)

|label1 = Irreligious

|value1 = 60.1

|color1 = WhiteSmoke

|label2 = EKD Protestants

|value2 = 15.7

|color2 = DodgerBlue

|label3 = Islam

|value3 = 11.4

|color3 = Green

|label4 = Catholicism

|value4 = 9.1

|color4 = DarkOrchid

|label5 = Other Christian

|value5 = 2.7

|color5 = Magenta

|label6 = Other Religion

|value6 = 1.0

|color6 = Orange

}}

More than 60% of Berlin residents have no registered religious affiliation.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/apr/26/berlin-germany-religious-education-ethics|title=Atheist Berlin to decide on religion's place in its schools|author=Connolly, Kate|work=The Guardian |location=UK |date=26 April 2009|accessdate=10 May 2010}} The largest denomination in 2010 was the Protestant regional church body – the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) – a United church. EKBO is a member of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and Union Evangelischer Kirchen (UEK), and accounts for 18.7% of the local population.Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland: Kirchenmitgliederzahlen am 31. Dezember 2010. EKD, 2011, ([http://www.ekd.de/download/Ber_Kirchenmitglieder_2010.pdf PDF; 0,45 MB]) Retrieved, 10 Märch 2012. The Roman Catholic Church has 9.1% of residents registered as its members. About 2.7% of the population identify with other Christian denominations (mostly Eastern Orthodox, but also various Protestants).Amt für Statistik Berlin Brandenburg: Die kleine Berlin-Statistik 2010. ([http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/Produkte/kleinestatistik/kBEst_2010.pdf PDF-Datei]). Retrieved, 4 January 2011. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120904233957/http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/Produkte/kleinestatistik/kBEst_2010.pdf |date=4 September 2012 }}

An estimated 300,000–420,000 Muslims reside in Berlin, making up about 8–11 percent of the population. 0.9% of Berliners belong to religions other than Christianity or Islam.{{cite web|url=http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/produkte/jahrbuch/jb2010/JB_201004_BE.pdf |title=Statistisches Jahrbuch für Berlin 2010. Retrieved, 10 Märch 2012. |accessdate=10 February 2013}} Of the estimated population of 30,000–45,000 Jewish residents,{{cite web| url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/11/01/germany-jewish-community-now-thrives/fcPnmnfpbLQ0hM1A6zDyNN/story.html| title=In Germany, a Jewish community now thrives| author=Mike Ross| date=1 November 2014| website=The Boston Globe| publisher=| accessdate=19 August 2016 }} approximately 12,000 are registered members of religious organizations.

{{Portal|Germany|European Union}}

• List of metropolitan areas by population
• Largest urban areas of the European Union
• List of people from Berlin
• Demographics of Germany

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.statistik-berlin-brandenburg.de/ Berlin-Brandenburg Statistical Office (Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg)]
• Schwenk, Herbert, Berliner Stadtentwicklung von A bis Z: Kleines Handbuch zum Werden und Wachsen der deutschen Hauptstadt, 2nd edition. Berlin: Luisenstädtischer Bildungsverein, 1998.

{{Berlin}}

Category:Geography of Berlin

Category:History of Berlin

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