The number of people living in Germany aged 100 or older is increasing, according to recent census figures from the Federal Office of Statistics (Destatis).

More 100-year-olds now living in Germany

In May 2022, 16.800 people who were 100 years old or older were living in Germany, compared to the 13.400 centenarians or older living in the federal republic in 2011. The shift amounts to an increase of around one quarter.

Census information also revealed that 59 percent of Germany’s 100-year-olds were living independently at home in 2022, while 41 percent resided in assisted living or nursing homes.

Of those aged 100 or over in 2022, a whopping 85 percent were women. According to Destatis, increased financial prosperity and advances in healthcare are the main reasons why more people in Germany are living to their 100th birthday and beyond.

Overall life expectancy is also on the rise in Germany. According to 2023 figures from Destatis, the average man can expect to live to the age of 78,6, while the average woman will live to 83,3 years.

Where in Germany do the most centenarians live?

The vast majority - nine out of 10 - centenarians in Germany in 2022, lived in cities with 5.000 people or more.

While Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and Saxony were the top three city-states and federal states with the largest proportion of centenarians, Würzburg in Bavaria came in as the city with the highest proportion of centenarians. In Würzburg in 2022, there were 46 100-year-olds for every 100.000 inhabitants.

The news of Germany’s changing demography comes as a move to the right pushes young, middle-aged and older people to look to the country’s elderly population for insight.

Many of Germany’s centenarians witnessed and remember Hitler’s rise to power, the Holocaust, capitulation, “denazification”, the formation of the GDR and the Bundesrepublik, the assumption of the former into the latter and contemporary knock-on effects more than 30 years later.

With the far-right gaining ground again in Germany, many members of the older generation, including Holocaust survivors, have appealed to young people to vote for democratic parties.

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