The babyboomer retire in Germany. They are millions. But there are no young people to replace them. Even worse: Forecasts for demand work with the official retirement age of 67 years. Some even count on people to work till they are 72. The real average retirement age in Germany is before your 65nd birthday, though.

You cannot hire young Germans, if there are none

This year about 1,138,000 million babyboomer retire. And about 882,000 young people from Gen Z enter the labor force. That’s 336,000 less. In other words: The German labor market looses a workforce that is roughly equal to the complete population of Bielefeld. This continues year after year after year…

Even worse: There will be way more retirees every year and fewer and fewer people who work. Which means that fewer people have to pay an ever growing share for pensions, medical care and support for the elderly. Only immigration can ease this burden.

How Germany’s population will change over time

If you like to test different scenarios: Here is the data.