Ethnic Germans are a minority group in many countries. The following sections briefly detail the historical and present distribution of ethnic Germans by region, but generally exclude modern
expatriates, who have a presence in the United States,
Scandinavia and major urban areas worldwide. People of partial German ancestry form an important minority group in several countries, including
Canada (roughly 10% of the population), Brazil (roughly 10 % of the population),
Australia (roughly 4.5% of the population), Argentina (roughly 4.46% of the population),
Chile (roughly 4% of the population), South Africa (roughly 2% of the population),
Namibia and in
central and eastern Europe—(
Poland,
Hungary,
Romania, and
Russia). Distribution of German citizens and people claiming German ancestry (figures are only estimates and actual population could be higher, because of misleadingly formulated questions in censuses in countries like Poland, and other different factors, f.e. related to participant in a census):
Europe Alpine nations Austria, Switzerland, and
Liechtenstein each have a German-speaking majority, though the vast majority of the population do not identify themselves as German anymore.
Austrians historically were identified as and considered themselves Germans until after the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of
World War II. Post-1945 a broader Austrian national identity began to emerge, and over 90% of the Austrians now see themselves as an independent nation.
East-Central Europe Aside from the Germans who migrated to other parts of Europe, the German diaspora also covered the Eastern and Central European states such as Romania, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, During the periods of colonization, for instance, there was an influx of Germans who came to
Bohemia and parts of Romania as colonizers. Settlements due to border changes were largely 20th century developments caused by the new political order after the two world wars. There are about 21,000 Germans in the Czech Republic (number of
Czechs who have at least partly German ancestry probably runs into the hundreds of thousands). Their number has been consistently decreasing since World War II. According to the 2011 census, there remain 11 municipalities and settlements in Czech Republic with more than 6% Germans. The situation in
Slovakia was different from that in Czech Republic, in that the number of Germans was considerably lower and that the
Germans from Slovakia were almost completely evacuated to German states as the Soviet army was moving west through Slovakia, and only a fraction of those who returned to Slovakia after the end of the war were deported with the Germans from the Czech lands.
Denmark In Denmark, the part of
Schleswig that is now
South Jutland County (or
Northern Schleswig) is inhabited by about 12,000–20,000 ethnic Germans They speak mainly Standard German and
South Jutlandic. A few speak
Schleswigsch, a
Northern Low Saxon dialect.
France In France, over 100,000 German nationals residing in the French country. The exact number is not known; some statistics indicate more than 300,000 Germans in France, but they are not officially sanctioned. There, the Germans live mainly in the northeastern area of France, i.e., in regions close to the Franco-German border (i.e.
Alsace), and the island of
Corsica.
Hungary Prior to World War II, approximately 1.5 million Danube Swabians lived in Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Today, the German minority in Hungary have minority rights, organisations, schools and local councils, but spontaneous assimilation is well under way. Many of the deportees visited their old homes after the fall of the
Iron Curtain in 1990. Around 178,000 Germans live in Hungary.
Italy in 1911, showing areas inhabited by ethnic Germans in pink There are smaller, unique populations of Germans who arrived so long ago that their dialect retains many archaic features heard nowhere else: the
Cimbrians are concentrated in various communities in the
Carnic Alps, north of
Verona, and especially in the
Sugana Valley on the high plateau northwest of
Vicenza in the
Veneto region; the
Walsers, who originated in the Swiss
Wallis, live in the provinces of
Aostatal,
Vercelli, and
Verbano-Cusio-Ossola; the
Mòchenos live in the
Fersina Valley. Smaller German-speaking communities also exist in the
Friuli-Venezia Giulia region: the
Carinthians in the
Canale Valley (municipalities of
Tarvisio,
Malborghetto Valbruna and
Pontebba) and the
Zahren and
Timau Germans in
Carnia. Contrarily to the before-mentioned minorities, the German-speaking population of the province of
South Tyrol cannot be categorized as "ethnic German" according to the definition of this article, but as Austrian minority. However, as Austrians saw themselves as ethnic Germans until the end of World War II, they can technically also be called Germans. The province was part of the Austrian County of Tyrol before the 1919 dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. South Tyroleans were part of the over 3 million German speaking Austrians who in 1918 found themselves living outside of the newborn Austrian Republic as minorities in the newly formed or enlarged respective states of Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Italy. Their dialect is Austro-Bavarian German. Both standard German and dialect are used in schooling and media. German enjoys co-official status with the national language of Italian throughout this region. Germans have been present in the Iglesiente mining region in the south west of
Sardinia since the 13th century. Successively since 1850 groups of specialised workers from
Styria, Austria, followed by German miners from
Freiburg settled in the same area. Some Germans influenced building and toponym is still visible in this area.
Norway In Norway, there are 27,770 Germans making them the ninth largest ethnic minority in the country, thus constituting 0.52% of Norway's total population, and 2.94% of all
foreign residents in Norway. Immigration from Germany to Norway has occurred since the
Middle Ages. There have been many Germans who migrated to
Bergen during the Middle Ages and also during
Norway's union with Denmark. During the Union with Denmark, a lot of German miners migrated to the town of
Kongsberg. As of 2020, there are 1,446 Germans in the city of Bergen, making up 0.51% of the total population, and in the town of Kongsberg there are 114 Germans, making up 0.41% of the total population respectively. The city with the biggest population of Germans is
Oslo. 3,743 Germans live in the city, thereby making up 0.55% of the total population. Germany is also the country that sends the most
foreign exchange students to Norway, in 2016, 1,570 exchange students came to Norway from Germany.
Poland The remaining German minority in Poland (109,000 people were registered in the 2011 census) enjoys minority rights according to Polish minority law. There are German speakers throughout Poland, and most of the Germans live in the
Opole Voivodeship in
Silesia. Bilingual signs are posted in some towns of the region. In addition, there are bilingual schools and German can be used instead of Polish in dealings with officials in several towns.
Portugal As of December 2022, there are 20,500 German nationals residing in Portugal. On the other hand, around 5,000 Germans live in the southern region of
Algarve. Lisbon also hosts a Catholic German Church and a German cemetery since 1821. Many Luso-Germans have acquired fame throughout the years. Individuals of the community include
Alfredo Keil (1850–1907), composer of
A Portuguesa, the Portuguese
national anthem, archaeologist
Virgínia Rau (1907–1973), banker and industrialist
António Champalimaud (1918–2004), architect
Francisco Keil do Amaral (1910–1975) and former prime minister
Ernesto Hintze Ribeiro (1849–1907). Contemporary figures of German descent include football player
Diego Moreira,
Eurovision song contest winner
Salvador Sobral, surfer
Nic von Rupp, actresses
Catarina Wallenstein and
Vera Kolodzig, and tennis player
Maria João Koehler. Amongst the most notable Luso-Germans there is undoubtedly
João Frederico Ludovice, who was commissioned the project for the
Mafra National Palace in 1711.
Romania As of 2022, according to the
Romanian Census, there were circa 22,900 ethnic Germans recorded in Romania. Since the
High Middle Ages, the territory of present-day Romania has been continuously inhabited by German-speaking groups, firstly by Transylvanian Saxons then, gradually, by other immigrant groups of ethnic German origin. They are all politically represented by the
Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR).
Spain There are 138,917 residents of German descent living in Spain in 2014, and 112,000 German citizens. Settlement of German-speaking settlers began during Middle Ages, an example is the Preysler family, with ancestors moved to Spain from Austria and was involved in the trading of Austrian bred horses being brought to Spain in the mid-19th century. Before World War II broke out,
Sudeten German Prince Maximilian Eugene of Hohenlohe-Langenburg decided to take refuge in Spain. Similarly, after the war, all of his assets were confiscated through the Beneš Decrees. However, the fortune of his wife's family prevented him from falling out of favor. In Spain, one of his sons,
Prince Alfonso, founded the
Marbella Club Hotel, thus beginning the Marbella Golden Mile, which he catapulted as a destination for international luxury tourism, which since then has generated great wealth for Spain.
Sweden During the 11th century, Sweden was visited by missionaries from Germany. During the Middle Ages, Hanseatic merchants had a great influence on Swedish trade and also the Swedish language. According to a survey, the proportion of German loanwords in Swedish is 24–30 percent (slightly depending on how you calculate). During the period of great power, a number of German congregations were formed in Sweden. Including Karlskrona German parish, which then became part of Karlskrona Admiralty parish. Today, there are two more active German congregations in Sweden. They are part of the parishes of the Church of Sweden, the German Christinae parish and the German St. Gertrude's parish consists of German citizens or Swedes of German origin. In connection with the two world wars, several German children of war came to Sweden. Between the late 1940s and early 1990s, many East German refugees also came to Sweden. On 31 December 2014, there were 49,359 people in Sweden who were born in Germany, of whom 23,195 were men (47.0%) and 26,164 women (53.0%). The corresponding figure for 31 December 2000 was 38,155, of which 16,965 men (44.5%) and 21,190 women (55.5%). There were 28,172 people in Sweden with German citizenship. In 2019, according to Statistics Sweden, German immigrants together with the Chinese were the most highly educated who migrate to Sweden, with a proportion of 70 per cent who are highly educated, which is well above the average for Sweden's population which is 30 per cent. Around 29,505 German Citizens living in Sweden in 2020.
United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a German-Briton ethnic group of around 300,000 exists. Some are descended from 19th-century immigrants. Others are 20th-century immigrants and their descendants, and others are
World War II prisoners of war held in Great Britain who decided to stay there. Others arrived as spouses of English soldiers from post-war marriages in Germany, when the British were occupying forces. Many of the more recent immigrants have settled in the
London and southeast part of England, in particular,
Richmond (South West London). The
British royal family are partially descended from German monarchs. Due to
Brexit, the number of Germans in the UK has declined significantly. In 2021, there were only 135,000 Germans in the UK.
Africa During the long decline of the Roman Empire and the ensuing great migrations Germanic tribes such as the
Vandals (who sacked Rome) migrated into
North Africa and settled mainly in the lands corresponding to modern
Tunisia and northeastern
Algeria. While it is likely that some of the people living there at present are descended from these Germanic peoples, they did not leave visible cultural traces.
Cameroon The first German trading post in the Duala area on the Kamerun River delta was established in 1868 by the Hamburg trading company
C. Woermann. The firm's agent in Gabon, Johannes Thormählen, expanded activities to the Kamerun River delta. In 1874, together with the Woermann agent in Liberia, Wilhelm Jantzen, the two merchants founded their own company, Jantzen & Thormählen there. At the outbreak of World War I, French, Belgian and British troops invaded the German colony in 1914 and fully occupied it during the Kamerun campaign. The last German fort to surrender was the one at Mora in the north of the colony in 1916. Following Germany's defeat, the Treaty of Versailles divided the territory into two League of Nations mandates (Class B) under the administration of Great Britain and France. French Cameroun and part of British Cameroons reunified in 1961 as Cameroon, though some Germans still remain in Cameroon.
Namibia Germany was not as involved in colonizing Africa as other major European powers of the 20th century, and lost its overseas colonies, including
German East Africa and
German South West Africa, after World War I. Similarly to those in Latin America, the Germans in Africa tended to isolate themselves and were more self-sufficient than other Europeans. In
Namibia there are 30,000 ethnic Germans, though it is estimated that only a third of those retain the language. Most German-speakers live in the capital,
Windhoek, and in smaller towns such as
Swakopmund and
Lüderitz, where German architecture is highly visible.
South Africa In South Africa, a number of
Afrikaners and
Boers are of partial German ancestry, being the descendants of German immigrants who intermarried with Dutch settlers and adopted
Afrikaans as their mother tongue. Professor JA Heese in his book
Die Herkoms van die Afrikaner (
The Origins of Afrikaners) claims the modern Afrikaners (who total around 3.5 million) have 34.4% German ancestry. Germans also emigrated to South Africa during the 1850s and 1860s, and settled in the
Eastern Cape area around
Stutterheim, and in
Kwazulu-Natal in the
Wartburg area, where there is still a large German-speaking community. Mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries, an estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in
South Africa. Germans settled quite extensively in South Africa, with many
Calvinists immigrating from Northern Europe. Later on, more Germans settled in the
KwaZulu-Natal and elsewhere. Here, one of the largest communities are the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of
Low German, who are concentrated in and around
Wartburg. German is slowly disappearing elsewhere, but a number of communities still have a large number of speakers and some even have German language schools. Around 17,000 German Nationals lived in South Africa in 2020.
Tanzania When mainland
Tanzania,
Rwanda, and
Burundi were under German control, they were named
German East Africa; they received some migration from German communities. After
Tanganyika and
Ruanda-Urundi became British and Belgian
mandates following Germany's defeat in World War I, some of these communities remained.
North America In the United States are ca. 160,000 German Citizens Registered. •
Belize: 5,763
Mennonite Low-German speakers. • Canada (3.3 million, 9,6% of the population), see also
German Canadians. • Mexico: See
German immigration to Mexico, 22% of Mennonites also speak Low German which is not Standard German but derived from Old Saxon, 30% speak Spanish, 5% speak English and 5% speak Russian as a second language. Sources estimate that there are around 15,000 German citizens and Mexicans of German-citizen origin account for about 75,000 today. Also of note, the 'Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt', or Alexander von Humboldt school in Mexico City is the largest German school outside Germany. • In the United States,
"German" has been the largest self-identified ancestry group since 1990. There are around 50 million
Americans of at least partial German ancestry in the United States, or 17% of the U.S. population, the country's largest self-reported ancestral group. including various groups such as the
Pennsylvania Dutch. Of these, 23 million are of German ancestry alone ("single ancestry"), and another 27 million are of partial German ancestry, making them the largest group in the United States, followed by the Irish. Of those who claim partial ancestry, 22 million identify their primary ancestry ("first ancestry") as German. The 22 million Americans of primarily German ancestry are by far the largest part of the German diaspora, a figure equal to over a quarter of the population of Germany itself. Germans form just under half the population in the
Upper Midwest. •
Central America: In 1940, there were 16,000 Germans living in Central America; half of them in
Guatemala, and most of the remainder were established in
Costa Rica and a few in Nicaragua.
South America s celebrate
Oktoberfest in
Villa General Belgrano. , Chile, in 1951 , Paraguay • Argentina: Those of German ancestry constitute about 8% of the Argentine population — over 3 million — most of them
Volga Germans alone — about 2 million. There are more than 400,000 of other German ancestries including
Mennonites and
German Swiss. These two groups are more common in Southern Argentina, and also in Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Cordoba provinces. A notable example is the town of
Villa General Belgrano, founded by Germans in the 1930s. In the 1960s it became the site of the Fiesta Nacional de la Cerveza, or Oktoberfest, which has become a major attraction in Argentina. By 1940, there were 250,000 people of German descent living in the country. 50,000 German citizens live in Argentina. :There are about 500,000 German-speakers in Argentina, slightly over 1% of population. :Furthermore, a wave of Ashkenazi immigrants came after the rise of Nazism in 1933, followed by as many as 19,000 German Jews. From 1939 until the end of World War II, immigration was put to a halt by anti-immigrant feelings in the country and restrictions on immigration from Germany. •
Bolivia: There are two different German groups: the descendants of those who emigrated from Germany and Brazil (estimated in about 160,000, 2% of Bolivian population) Germans are 237,000 or 2,5% of Bolivian population. :There are over 20,000 Standard German-speakers, • Brazil: Mostly living in
Southern Brazil. Brazil received 250,000 Germans between the 19th and 20th centuries. According to Born and Dickgiesser (1989, p. 55) the number of Brazilians of German descent in 1986 was 3.6 million. According to a 1999 survey by
IBGE researcher
Simon Schwartzman, in a representative sample of the Brazilian population 3,6% said they had German ancestry, a percentage that in a population of about 200 million amount to 7.2 million descendants. In 2004,
Deutsche Welle cited the number of 5 million Brazilians of German descent.
Hunsrückisch and
East Pomeranian are some of the most prominent groups. :By 1940, the German diaspora in Brazil amounted about a million. mostly living in
South Chile. Most of German settlers migrated from
south Germany, particularly from traditionally Catholic
Bavaria,
Baden and the
Rhineland; another group is Sudeten Germans from present-day
Czech Republic; even included were
Alsatians and
Poles thru
Partitions of Poland. German Chileans speak a local dialect called
Lagunen-Deutsch. There are 40,000 Standard German-speakers. •
Ecuador: Ecuador has only few people of German descent. Notable is a small German population on the Island of
Floreana (
Galapagos): Between 1929 and circa 1950, roughly half a dozen
Aussteigers were living on the Island. In 1934 three of them died under unclear circumstances, these events caused international media attention called
Galapagos-affair. Today, the descendants of the Floreana-Germans have been assimilated into the local Ecuadorian population or re-immigrated to Germany. •
Paraguay : 166,000 Standard German-speakers (including 18,000 Mennonites, who don't speak
Plattdeutsch or
Mennonite Low German), most Germans in Paraguay are of Brazilian descent and Portuguese speakers; plus 20,000
Mennonite Low German, spoken by Mennonites who live in
Chaco and Eastern Paraguay Non-Mennonites German emigrated to Paraguay mainly from Brazil, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the German Empire. •
Peru: The communities of
Oxapampa,
Pozuzo, and
Villa Rica in the high jungles of the Peruvian Amazon basin were settled in the middle of the 19th century by Austrian and Prussian immigrants. Many of its present-day inhabitants speak German In the 18th century, German immigrants settled the areas of
Tingo Maria,
Tarapoto,
Moyobamba, and the
Amazonas Department. German immigrants largely settled in
Lima, and to a lesser extent
Arequipa. •
Uruguay: By 1940, there were 50,000 Germans living in the country. •
Venezuela:
Asia In Japan, during the
Meiji period (1868–1912), many Germans came to work in Japan as advisors to the new government. Despite Japan's isolationism and geographic distance, there have been a few
Germans in Japan, since Germany's and Japan's fairly parallel modernization made Germans ideal
O-yatoi gaikokujin. (See also
Germany–Japan relations) In South Korea, there are
Germans in Korea. In China, the German trading colony of
Jiaozhou Bay in what is now
Qingdao existed until 1914, and did not leave much more than breweries, including
Tsingtao Brewery. In Indonesia, some of them became well-known figures in history, such as
C.G.C. Reinwardt (founder and first director of
Bogor Botanical Garden),
Walter Spies (German of Russian origin, who became the artist that made
Bali known to the world), and
Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn (owner of a big plantation in the south of
Bandung and dubbed "the
Humboldt of the East" because of his ethno-geographical notes). Members of the German religious group known as
Templers settled in
Palestine in the late 19th century and lived there for several generations, but were expelled by the British from
Mandatory Palestine during
World War II, due to pro-Nazi sympathies expressed by many of them. Communist
East Germany had relations with
Vietnam and
Uganda in Africa, but in these cases population movement went mostly to, not from, Germany. After the
German reunification, a large percentage of "guest workers" from Communist nations sent to East Germany returned to their home countries.
Oceania • Australia has received a significant number of ethnic-German immigrants from Germany and elsewhere. Numbers vary depending on who is counted, but moderate criteria give an estimate of 750,000 (4% of the population). The first wave of German immigration to Australia began in 1838, with the arrival of Prussian
Lutheran settlers in
South Australia (see
German settlement in Australia). After the Second World War, Australia received a large influx of displaced ethnic Germans. In the 1950s and 1960s, German immigration continued as part of a large post-war wave of European immigration to Australia. There have been ethnic Germans in Australia since the founding of the New South Wales colony in 1788, Governor
Arthur Phillip (the first
Governor of New South Wales) had a German father. But, the first significant wave of German immigration was in 1838. These Germans, mostly Prussian immigrants (but also winegrowers from the
Hesse-Nassau state and the
Rheingau). From there after, thousands of Germans emigrated to Australia until
World War I. Also,
German Australian was the most identified ethnicity behind English and Irish in Australia until World War I. After
World War II, large numbers of Germans emigrated to Australia to escape war-torn Europe. Manu German Australians speak a dialect developed in Australia called
Barossa German, a German dialect developed in
Barossa Valley. • New Zealand has received modest, but steady, ethnic German immigration from the mid-19th century. Today the number of New Zealanders with German ancestry is estimated to be approximately 200,000 (5% of the population). Many
German New Zealanders anglicized their names during the 20th century due to the negative perception of Germans fostered by World War I and World War II. New Zealanders of German descent include the late former
Prime Minister David Lange. The vast majority of Germans in New Zealand settled in the North Island, with a couple settling in the Christchurch area. Cities such as Tauranga,
Nelson and, to a lesser extent, Auckland have been somewhat influenced by German culture and values. == History ==