The influx of Ukrainian refugees to Germany has pushed the country’s population to a new all-time high of more than 84 million, the German Federal Statistical Office has revealed.

By the end of June, the country’s population had increased by 843,000 people, or as much as one per cent, compared to the end of 2021.

In comparison, the population grew by just 82,000 people, or 0.1 per cent, in the entire year of 2021.

Around 750,000 Ukrainian refugees came to Germany seeking safety from the Russian invasion in the first half of 2022.

Most of them were female, the statistics office reported, saying that by the end of June 501,000 more Ukrainian women and girls were living in Germany than at the end of 2021, while the number of Ukrainian men and boys increased by 248,000.

Germany experienced population increases of this magnitude before — both immigration-related — in 1992 and 2015.

In 1992, shortly after the fall of communism and Germany’s reunification, about 700,000 people arrived, fleeing the war in Yugoslavia, and coming from Eastern Europe following the opening of the borders there.

In 2015, almost one million migrants came from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Germany, now the European Union’s most populous country, has seen growth on a scale comparable to this only three times before since 1990.

Growth in population in each of the periods was linked to a wave of refugees.

In 1992, refugees from the war in former Yugoslavia helped swell the population by 700,000, and, in 2015, Germany became home for more than one million refugees from wars in the Middle East.

According to the Statistical Office, Germany’s female population grew by 1.2 per cent, significantly more than its male population, which increased by 0.8 per cent.

This means that more women and children fled the war in Ukraine, since men who could fight were not allowed to leave the country.

Even before an influx of refugees, Germany came around to become one of the most attractive destination for migrants as demand for labour grew.

One of the richest countries of the EU, Germany has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates and one of the lowest number of young people living in the country.