Germany's population reach record high

A new report released by the German Federal Statistics office on Friday has revealed that Germany's population has risen to nearly 83 million people by the end of 2016, growing by 600,000, a record high in the history of the country due to the influx of refugees.

The population eclipsed the previous record high of 82.5 million people recorded at the end of 2002, which rose to 82.8 million at the end of last year.

According to Destatis, Germany's population would have declined in the last year were it not for the arrival of about 750,000 migrants many of whom are refugees.

Germany's death number in 2016 exceeded the number of births by between 150,000 and 190,000 and also the rate of deaths in the country have exceeded births since 1972, with a total of more than 5 million fewer births than deaths.

Germany's fertility rate is way below the 2.1 children per woman needed to keep the country's population stable.