The German statistics office Destatis said on Tuesday that while in 2013, there were 80.8 million people in Germany, it expects the number to drop to between 67.6 and 73.1 people in 2060. Immigration can stem some of the decline, the statisticians said, but the overall negative trend is obvious, they say.

The population will continue to grow in the next five to seven years, before it starts to decline, according to the statisticians. The number of people of working age will fall particularly sharply, with those aged 20 to 64 expected to number around 34 to 38 million in 2060, compared to 49 million in 2013 - a decline of roughly 10 percent to around 52 percent of the population.

There will, however, be more and more old people in Germany, with around 23 million people, or one in three, expected to be over 65 in 2060. Today, only one in five is over the age of 65.

ng/rc (AFP, Reuters, epd)