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The Flaw at the Heart of the Wirtschaftswunder

24/01/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Germany's New Children

Will immigration from southern Europe help Germany's chronic labour shortage.

Germany has one of Europe's lowest birth rates and southern European workers are now more and more common. John Laurenson explores the flaw at the heart of its economic miracle.

Southern Europeans are moving to Germany in large numbers. Because of the German economic boom but also because of Germany's low birth rate. John Laurenson explores the flaw at the heart of the German economic miracle.

With its labour force likely to decline by 6.5 million people by 2025, huge numbers of people are moving to Germany. Net migration is running at 400,000 people a year, many of them are fleeing the struggling, unemployment-ridden economies of Italy, Spain and Greece.

But there's a deeper reason behind this extraordinary, sudden demographic shift at the heart of Europe than Germany's new 'economic miracle': the Fatherland can make the euros but it can't make the babies.

Demographic crisis has been creeping up on Germany for years. It has been called "the most important political and social challenge in the coming decades for Germany".

At 1.39 children per woman, Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Much worse, it has been like this since the early 70s. 

Now, with its industry in acute need of new manpower, the population has started to shrink.

John explores the reasons Germans have been failing to reproduce and looks at the government's efforts that have so far failed to reverse the trend.

Business leaders and some politicians say the current high-level of immigration into their country is a God-send for Germany but are Germans really ready to accept the changes that huge scale immigration might bring?

Presenter/ John Laurenson
Producer/ Richard McIlroy for the BBC.

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