Germany's population decline 'cannot be halted

Expatica ^ | 8 November 2006 | staff

[John Lenin]

Liberalism= Deathwish

[dr_who_2]

Maybe, but I prefer duds to goosesteppers.

[TChris]

Paging Mark Steyn... Mark Steyn please pick up a white courtesy phone.

[pepsionice]

Some interesting numbers for 2005: first...5,000 doctors left Germany for employment (they moved but most kept their citizenship intact)...chief reasons are better income level and lower taxes. If the same number of doctors leave in 2006...which they expect...then there will be serious issues for the German government to consider. You can't be a first-tier country with a national shortage of doctors.

Second...145,000 Germans left in 2005...permanently. They went down to the city hall and actually deregistered as they left...with no intention of coming back. They went to Australia, Canada, the US, Ireland, Denmark, Spain, etc. Chief reasons...lower taxes, better employment chances, and a better life expected. Few of them are returning. For 2006...the German government hints that the 145k number was reached in October....so they will exceed last year's number by January. If 2007 and 2008 were even better...then you could count 800,000 out of the current population of 80 million. Its not alot but its a trend that might not stop. For every German that successfully makes it...his cousin or her sister is watching...preparing for their own "escape" in a year or two. They have a show in German TV..."the new life"...they showed a German couple who moved to Canada and bought a huge house. The couple talked on and on about how much cheaper it was in western Canada than Germany. They probably convinced 2,000 Germans that night to strongly consider moving.

These trends will not endanger Germany overnight. But you could envision a new Germany by 2020 with 68 million Germans instead of 80 million. The sad thing is that taxation-wise...you already have cut the military as bad as you can...so other than social services now...there isn't much left to trim. With most manufacturing moving out of the country...to Asia or China...there are not enough decent paying jobs to remain...keeping the middle class happy. There is no answer...it is simply a dead-end road.