Since 2002, the population of Germany has been decreasing, primarily because of a low birthrate, but also because of low immigration. Since 2008 more people have been emigrating from than immigrating into Germany. The German government has been trying to reverse this trend. On May 1, 2011 Germany and Austria opened their labor markets to citizens of the Eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004.
According to the Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis), in 2011 for the first time in eight years, the population of Germany has increased slightly, by about 50 000 to over 81.80 million. Deaths exceeded births by 170 000 to 185 000, but 240 000 more people immigrated into as emigrated from Germany. The proportion of immigrants coming from the EU member countries that joined the EU in 2004, primarily Poland, increased from a quarter to a third of the total immigration.
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