Berlin deputy mayor Klaus Lederer has said a recent senate report estimates the number of Berliners will increase to 3,963 million by 2040.
Klaus Lederer, deputy mayor of Berlin for the Left Party (die Linke), has announced that, according to a report by the Department for City Development, the population of Berlin is set to continually grow until 2040.
By 2025 the city’s population will climb to around 3,871 million people, 96.000 more than in 2021. By 2030 the number will have increased to 3,909 million. Almost half of the predicted population growth is expected to happen within the first four years of the timeline, meaning that housing and public transport in Berlin must rapidly adapt to facilitate the growing number of inhabitants.
Lack of affordable housing is already a central concern for people living in Berlin. Reforms such as the rent cap (Mietendeckel) or the Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen movement to nationalise 240.000 flats, are supported by a majority of Berliners, but are often disrupted or delayed by legal red tape. And while Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey promised Berliners an average of 20.000 new flats a year, labour shortages and the increasing cost of building materials mean that Giffey’s proposal may not be the most effective solution to keep rents down.
Lederer also announced that, along with continuing population growth, the average age of Berliners is expected to increase. According to estimates, the number of children and under-18s will increase by 6,9 percent come 2040. Increasing life expectancy in Germany means that the number of Berliners above the age of 65 is set to increase by 11 percent and those above the age of 80 by 3,5 percent. With these changes, the average age of Berliners will be 43,1 years by 2040. The most recent officially recorded average age of Berliners was in 2021, when it was 42,9 years.
These changes will impact every aspect of Berliners' lives. In agreement with Mayor Giffey, the building minister for Berlin, Andreas Giesel, said, “New housing must continue to be built urgently to ease the market. But new children’s nurseries and schools are also necessary.” Speaking to the dpa, Giesel also pointed out that public and private transport infrastructure would need to be expanded.