List of censuses in Germany

The list of censuses in Germany provides an overview of the results of all censuses in Germany since 1834.

German Customs Union

From 1834 to 1867, the German Customs Union regularly conducted censuses in the member countries every three years. The so-called "customs clearance population" was determined. The time chosen for the census was when the majority of the population stayed at home. The Zollverein set December 3rd as the date. The census originally planned for 1870 had to be postponed due to the Franco-Prussian War .

The area and population of the customs area according to the respective territorial status:

Territorial development of the German Customs Union

Date ¹	Area in km²	population	Inhabitants per km²
December 3, 1834	420,301	23.478.120	56
December 3, 1837	439.420	26,008,973	59
December 3, 1840	439.420	27.142.116	62
December 3, 1843	447.507	28.498.136	64
December 3, 1846	447.507	29,461,381	66
December 3, 1849	447.507	29,800,063	67
December 3, 1852	447.507	30,492,792	68
December 3, 1855	492,621	32,721,344	66
December 3, 1858	492,621	33,542,352	68
December 3, 1861	492,621	34,670,277	70
December 3, 1864	492,621	35.886.302	73
December 3, 1867	510.628	37.512.005	73

¹ Relevant territorial status:
from 1835 with the Grand Duchy of Baden and Duchy of Nassau
from 1836 with the Free City of Frankfurt
from 1841 with the Duchy of Braunschweig
from 1842 with Luxembourg
from 1854 with the Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe
from 1867 with the Principality of Lübeck, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg -Strelitz

German Empire

German Empire in the Imperial Era before World War I (1871–1918)

German Empire (" German Republic ") after the First World War (1919–1937)

In the German Empire , censuses took place every five years from 1871 and from 1875 to 1910. After that, counting was only carried out at irregular intervals. The war censuses in World War I in 1916 and 1917 in connection with food rationing were not regular censuses. Shortly after the war in 1919, then in 1925 and 1933, further counts followed. The latter could only be carried out with a delay due to the global economic crisis . Was determined from 1871 to 1919, the "local population Present" and in 1925 the resident population .

Immediately after the end of the World War, Alsace-Lorraine and the province of Posen were separated, and further losses in area and population came into force at the beginning of 1920 and 1922 due to the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. Austria was thereby denied accession to the kingdom, which the German-speaking population in the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia was assumed.

However, in accordance with the contract, the Saar area was able to vote on its membership for the first time in 1935 and chose to return “home to the Reich”. The census planned for 1937 did not take place until May 17, 1939 , after further enlargements of the area (most recently on March 22, 1939, the Memelland ). Around 750,000 meters were involved, which recorded all 22 million households in the now significantly enlarged German Reich with questionnaires. They contained the sign of NS - Semitism and racist criteria. It was about a total of almost 80 million inhabitants on the territory of the so-called Altreich , in the Ostmark , which was affiliated in spring 1938 , and in the Sudetenland , which was affiliated in autumn 1938 after the Munich Agreement .

After the Second World War , censuses were carried out on December 1, 1945 in the Soviet occupation zone , on January 26, 1946 in the French occupation zone, and on October 29, 1946 in all four zones of Germany under the responsibility of the occupying powers.

The area and population of the German Empire according to the respective territorial status:

Date ¹	surface	population	Inhabitant / km²
December 1, 1871	541,561 km²	41,058,792	076
December 1, 1875	539,829 km²	42,727,360	079
December 1, 1880	540,522 km²	45.234.061	084
December 1, 1885	540,597 km²	46.855.704	087
December 1, 1890	540,504 km²	49,428,470	091
December 2, 1895	540,658 km²	52.279.901	097
December 1, 1900	540,743 km²	56.367.178	104
December 1, 1905	540,778 km²	60,641,489	112
December 1, 1910	540,858 km²	64.925.993	120
December 1, 1916	540,858 km²	62.272.185	115
December 5, 1917	540,858 km²	62.615.275	116
October 8, 1919	474,304 km²	60,898,584	128
June 16, 1925	468,718 km²	62.410.619	133
June 16, 1933	468,787 km²	65.362.115	139
May 17, 1939	583,370 km²	79.375.281	136
October 29, 1946	353,460 km²	65.137.274	184

¹ Current territorial status:
from 1919 without Alsace-Lorraine and the province of Posen
from 1920 without West Prussia, Polish Corridor, Danzig , Memelland , North Schleswig , East Belgium and Saar area
from 1922 without East Upper Silesia
from 1935 again with the Saar area
from 1938 with Ostmark and Sudetenland
from 1939 again with Memelland
from 1945 without eastern territories of the German Reich
from 1946 without Saarland

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic carried out a total of four censuses at intervals of six to 14 years. The census planned for 1991 was canceled due to the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990.

The area and population of the GDR (including East Berlin):

date	Area in km²	population	Inhabitants per km²
August 31, 1950	107,862	18,388,172	170
December 31, 1964	108,304	17.003.655	157
1st January 1971	108.178	17,068,318	158
December 31, 1981	108,333	16,705,635	154

It is noteworthy that EDP was used quite early in Germany for the purpose of the census. For example, in 1964 the GDR government had the first census carried out with the computer. The VEB machine computing was responsible .

Federal Republic of Germany

The censuses carried out in the Federal Republic of Germany took place at intervals of five to nine years until 1970. During the building and apartment census of 1956, the resident population was also counted (“small census”). The census, originally planned for May 20, 1981, was postponed to April 27, 1983 due to funding problems. This date could not be kept due to a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court . A modified census took place on May 25, 1987 ( population census in the Federal Republic of Germany 1987 ). The next census was to be carried out jointly with the GDR, but the unification treaty was concluded before the 1991 deadline .

In preparation for a register-based census (Census Preparation Act of July 27, 2001), the statistical offices of the federal and state governments examined the quality of the population registers as part of the census test on December 5, 2001. The population registers contained around 856,000 people too many - because they were permanently or temporarily duplicated. Overall, the result of the population update, based on the population at the location of the main residence, was at least 1.3 million people above the result of the register census.

With a cabinet decision of August 29, 2006, the federal government decided that the next census in 2011 will be carried out as a register-based census for the first time. The 2011 Census Act set the deadline for the survey to be May 9, 2011. It is the first nationwide census since 1946. The difference to the last census in East Germany is 30 years and to the last census in West Germany 24 years. The resident population was determined until 1970 and from 1987 the "population at the place of the main residence".

The area and population of the Federal Republic of Germany according to the respective territorial status:

Date ¹	Area in km²	population	Inhabitants per km²
September 13, 1950	245.770	49,842,624	203
September 25, 1956	245.860	52.195.100	212
June 6, 1961	248,456	56.174.826	226
May 27, 1970	248,469	60.650.584	244
May 25, 1987	248,626	61,077,042	246
December 5, 2001²	357.023	79.285.218	222
May 9, 2011	357.112	80.219.695	225

¹ Current territorial status:
from 1949 without the East Zone (GDR), East Berlin and Saarland, with West Berlin
from 1957 with Saarland
from 1990 with East Zone (GDR) and East Berlin
² Census test

literature

Imperial Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistical Yearbook for the German Empire, 1880–1918
Statistisches Reichsamt (Ed.): Statistical yearbook for the German Reich, 1919–1941 / 42
Federal Statistical Office (Ed.): Statistical Yearbook for the Federal Republic of Germany, 1952 ff.
State Central Administration for Statistics (Ed.): Statistical Yearbook of the German Democratic Republic, 1955–1989

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Judt, Matthias: The innovation process for automated information processing in the GDR from the beginning of the fifties to the beginning of the seventies, Berlin 1989, p. 133.

↑ Federal Statistical Office: The 1987 population census ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

↑ Heise Online: 20 years ago: 10 minutes that help everyone , from May 25, 2007.

↑ Federal Statistical Office: Results of the multiple case examination as part of the censor test .

↑ Federal Statistical Office: censorship date ( memento of the original of November 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

[1] Judt, Matthias: The innovation process for automated information processing in the GDR from the beginning of the fifties to the beginning of the seventies, Berlin 1989, p. 133.