THE NATIONAL SYSTEM OF DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS
Population Structure
The first population census after unification was held in 1871. From 1834 to 1867 population statistics were
collected for the German Tariff Union. The Franco-Prussian War prevented the census from being conducted in
1870. From 1875 to 1910 population censuses were held every five years; after that the census dates were very
irregular and affected by wars, economic crises, and political decisions. During the German Empire (1871–1919)
the censuses in the middle of the decade were often not as extensively published as the decennial censuses at the
beginning of each decade. In particular, the censuses of 1895 and 1905 were only partially published.
The territorial changes up to 1938 had consequences for statistics-taking. The 1933 population census referred
to the territory of the Treaty of Versailles, i.e. without the Saarland. After it was returned to the Empire in 1935 a
special population census was organized for the Saarland that same year. The next general population census in
1939 referred to the German territory including Austria and the Sudetenland. There are no totals given for the
territory on 31 December 1937, before the 1938 gains. Nevertheless, for the period since 1938 official statistics
after World War II refer to the territory as of 31 December 1937. The population figures presented thereafter also
use this convention.
Data on population structure are available for individual German states before 1871, but there are no
tabulations concerning age (in small age groups), sex, or marital status. Thus, the age, sex, and civil status
structure is only given since 1871. In the censuses of the 1870s and 1880s the age groups are often not one-year
but aggregated age groups.
The population in the population censuses and used for the age structure was always the resident population
present at the time of census-taking.
Vital Statistics
Vital statistics were introduced in the German Empire in 1872 with the law introducing civil marriage and the
registration of births, deaths, and marriages at local offices (Standesämter). But this does not mean that data on
vital statistics do not exist for earlier times. The different German states had a long tradition of vital statistics and
most of them have time series back to the early nineteenth century. This, of course, often mainly concerns the
most important variables of vital statistics such as births, deaths, and marriages, while illegitimate births,
divorces, and infant mortality are often covered only at later dates. Thus, it was possible for official statistics to
calculate the population movement for the territory of the German Empire back to 1840. Several indicators for
the Empire also start rather late, such as infant mortality, but data are available for single German states (such as
Prussia or Bavaria) back to the early nineteenth century.
Households and Families
Data on households (older term Haushaltung(en); today Haushalt(e)) were collected for the German Empire
already in the 1871 census. But the published data were still very limited. Only the three basic family types—
one-person households, family households, and institutional households—were published. The household
statistics were in direct line with earlier developments. Since 1834, the population censuses for the German
Tariff Union collected data on the number of households (at this time called ‘families’ (Familien), reflecting
older traditions). The collection of the number of households can be traced back to the population censuses of the
eighteenth century and before. In 1834 only the number of households (not distinguished by type) was collected.
In the following decades the collected items increased constantly; thus, in the course of time, households were
split into family households and institutional households, and the family households again disaggregated by size
into one-person households and family households with two or more persons. Already before unification some
German states were more progressive in household statistics and introduced household composition and
households disaggregated by size in the 1860s. Nevertheless, the large cities during urbanization were most
innovative and the earliest to extend household statistics.
At the national level household statistics remained rather poor until World War I. Household statistics were not
considered the responsibility of the Empire but rather that of the federal states and the large cities. Thus, much
more information is to be found in the statistics published by some of the states and large cities. But not all states
or large cities emphasized household statistics to the same extent; whereas Prussia was rather comprehensive and
innovative, Bavarian statisticians showed little interest in household statistics.
Disaggregations were introduced at the national level after World War I. The 1925 census included
disaggregations according to socio-economic characteristics of the household head and according to community
size. Disaggregations by community size had previously been introduced in some federal states (e.g. Baden);
those by socio-economic status had been introduced e.g. by Württemberg. Other distinctions by type of
household, household composition, sex of household members, etc. were also carried out earlier and more
extensively by the federal states than by the Empire.
After World War I German statistics became much more centralized: the national censuses became the
standard information source, while the information from the federal states declined. This reduction of the federal
element is in line with the general centralization of state functions in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
The definition of a household (Haushalt) since 1871 included two elements: a household was at once a
biological unit and a socio-economic unit. For instance, if the people living in the same flat were relatives but did
not share resources, then by definition this was not one household. This household definition normally included
all those people affiliated with the household, but not biological members; thus, servants, boarders, and lodgers
were normally counted as belonging to a family household and not as separate one-person households. Oneperson households were those living alone and supporting themselves. Institutional households were those
households in which persons were not living in a biological family for specific purposes (e.g. educational
institutions, monasteries, military barracks, guest houses, etc.). These principal definitions of household were
more or less kept for the whole period. Thus, German statistics used the housekeeping concept rather than the
household-dwelling concept.
Family statistics (Familienstatistik) in Germany before the end of World War II were only rudimentary.
Municipal statisticians were the first to put more emphasis on the family (Familie) as a biological unit in
household statistics. But the attention of social policy-makers and statisticians was focused more on the housing
problem (family members and non-family members living together as servants, boarders, and lodgers) than on a
value-free assessment of the family structure. The major decline in births after World War I moved public
attention in a different direction: family statistics were now viewed as fertility statistics. As in other European
countries, in Germany the fertility of couples and women was first assessed systematically in the 1930s, in the
censuses of 1933 and 1939. But this type of statistics did not meet the requirements of family statistics concerned
with the structure and composition of families. Family statistics were not institutionalized until the 1950 census
and the start of the Microcensus in 1957.
Remarks (also see introductory Table 6.1)
The age*sex*civil status table in the 1871 population census of the German Empire includes the age group 40–
49 years instead of 40–44 years. Data for the age group 40–44 have been calculated by splitting this age group
into two equal parts.