Other divisions · People
Old Germany and young Germany
The average person in Germany was 45.0 years old at the end of 2025, but the gap between districts is more than a decade: 51.9 in Suhl, 40.2 in Heidelberg. 55 of the 71 districts at least 2.5 years older than the national average are in the East.
| Zone | Districts | People | Share | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Young 2.5+ years below the German average (42.5 or less) | 22 | 8.1 m | 9.7% | 6,847 km² |
| Younger than average Under 45.0 | 140 | 35.8 m | 43% | 90,563 km² |
| Older than average 45.0 to under 47.5 | 168 | 29.8 m | 35.7% | 155,198 km² |
| Old 2.5+ years above the German average (47.5 or more) | 71 | 9.8 m | 11.7% | 104,982 km² |
Young Germany is a map of universities and jobs. The 22 districts at least 2.5 years younger than average are Heidelberg, Darmstadt, Offenbach am Main, Freiburg im Breisgau, Frankfurt am Main, Regensburg, Mainz, München, Cloppenburg, Erlangen, Münster, Heilbronn, Ingolstadt, Vechta, Hamburg, Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Leipzig, Tübingen, Ulm, Freising, Osnabrück and Mannheim: university cities and the Frankfurt, Munich and Rhine-Neckar regions with their young workforce and immigrants, plus two rural exceptions: the Catholic farming districts of Cloppenburg and Vechta in Lower Saxony, where families have more children than in most of Germany.
Old Germany is mostly the former GDR. After 1990 a generation of young people, more women than men, moved west for work, and births collapsed in the 1990s; those missing children are today's missing parents. 70 of the 75 eastern districts are at or above the German average; only Potsdam, Dresden, Leipzig, Halle (Saale) and Jena are younger. Saxony-Anhalt (48.4) is the oldest state, Hamburg (42.3) the youngest.
The old zone also reaches into the West: 16 western districts, among them Ostholstein, Lüchow-Dannenberg, Goslar and Kronach, are at least 2.5 years above average, mostly declining industrial or remote rural areas and retirement regions on the coast and in the hills.
Germany as a whole has aged since 2011 (43.9 then, 45.0 now). The steepest rise was in Wittmund (+3.1 years), Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (+3.0 years) and Nordwestmecklenburg (+3.0 years); 39 districts, mostly big cities that attracted young people and refugees, got younger.
Does the line still show?
Today's figures on each side, as population-weighted averages of the district values (our calculation from the live themes on this site).
| Indicator | Young | Younger than average | Older than average | Old |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfD vote 2025 | 12.7% | 17.9% | 20.2% | 37.2% |
| Green vote 2025 | 19.5% | 13.3% | 10.3% | 4.6% |
| Unemployment 2025 | 6.6% | 6.9% | 5.5% | 6.7% |
| Gross monthly salary € 31.12.2025 | 4,900 | 4,363 | 3,973 | 3,463 |
| Young people 31.12.2025 | 17.5% | 14.3% | 11.8% | 9.5% |
| Childcare 1 March 2025 | 42.3% | 35.2% | 36.6% | 54.9% |
| Foreign population 31.12.2025 | 25.5% | 20.4% | 13.2% | 7.8% |
How we drew the line
Average (mean) age of all residents on 31 December 2025, as published by the statistical offices for every district (Regionaldatenbank table 12411-07-01-4; computed from single years of age, each person counted at age + 0.5). We compared each district with the German average of 45.0 years from the same table: 2.5 years or more below it is "Young", below it "Younger than average", from the average up to 2.5 years above it "Older than average", and 2.5 years or more above it "Old". 2.5 years is about one standard deviation of the district values (2.0). Hanau, a separate district since 1 January 2026, was still part of Main-Kinzig-Kreis on the reference date and shows its figure.
- Population figures are the official update (Fortschreibung) based on the Zensus 2022.
- A mean age says nothing about the mix: a district can have many children and many pensioners at once. The site's age themes show the shares of young and old people.
- Students are counted where they have their main residence, which makes university cities look younger.