Werther. In the 1990s, Werther developed from a town of 10,000 to a population of 11,000 and beyond. As of December 31 of last year, 11,358 people live in Böckstiegelstadt. The peak was 11,653 people in 2000.
Residents and assessment
As can be seen from the figures from previous years, the number of residents in Werther has recently fallen slightly. In 2019 there were 11,407 Wertherans, in 2018 there were 11,529 and at the end of 2017 there were 11,534. “Our goal in Werther is to keep the number of inhabitants or to generate a slight increase”, says department head Jürgen Pilgrim. “The character of a small town should be preserved.” New, and especially affordable, living space is sought not only in Werther, but everywhere. The same applies to building sites. “This assessment is conveyed to us by the lists of those looking for accommodation and those willing to build,” says Pilgrim.
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Births and deaths
The number of newborn Wertherans was 86 in 2020. Werther has not had a hospital of its own for almost two decades. The closure of the maternity ward even dates back to the late 1980s. Werther’s children are therefore predominantly born in the region’s clinics, where the respective registry office also certifies the birth. Three children – two girls and a boy – made an exception in 2020: They were born at home in Werther, according to the registry office. So home births don’t seem completely out of fashion just yet. When it came to the names of the newcomers, Ella, Pauline, Ida, Mateo and Luke came first.
The 86 births were compared to 135 deaths last year, according to the residents’ service. 78 of them died in Werther and were thus notarized at the local registry office, 47 women and 31 men. According to this, 57 Wertherans died in 2020 not in their hometown, but in clinics outside of Germany.
Moving in and out
So if there is a noticeable difference of 49 between deaths and births, the balance between immigration and immigration is almost equal. A total of 671 people moved to Werther in 2020. Often they came from the local area such as Bielefeld or Halle. On the other hand, 678 people looked for a new place of residence outside of Werther. Most of them also stayed in the immediate vicinity: in Bielefeld or places in the Gütersloh district.
Weddings
The number indicates Werther’s registry office with 78 couples. “These couples don’t all have to come from Werther,” it says. Rather, all weddings in Werther are recorded. The other way around, Wertherans can of course have married abroad, but no statistics are available.
Age and nationality
As of December 31, 2020, there were 664 preschool children in Werther. At the retirement age, i.e. 66 years and older, there were 2,431 people. That was 20.9 percent of all Wertherers. The statistically largest population group is represented by the group of 40 to 62 year-olds, which is also broadly defined in terms of years: At the end of the year there were 3,874 people in Werther. 485 young adults between 18 and 21 years lived in Werther.
10,259 people in Werther were of German nationality at the end of the year. However, this number relates to December 1st, not December 31st. 798 of them had additional citizenship. Of the residents without a German passport, as of December 31, 246 Turks made up by far the largest part. A three-digit number of Poles (132) and Syrians (105) also lived in Werther. In terms of citizenships, Romanian (77), Greek (44) and Kosovar (41) follow. As of December 31, 2020, people of 83 nationalities – except German – lived in Werther. Nine people are stateless or have an unclear nationality.
Four-legged taxpayers
According to city treasurer Rainer Demoliner, 757 dogs currently live in Werther. At least these are the officially reported ones. The dog tax revenue is 43,000 euros. According to the Central Association of Zoological Companies, 10.1 million dogs romped around in Germany in 2019. Statistically, at that time every resident in Germany owned 0.12 dogs. There is still room for improvement in Werther: The rate on December 31, 2020 – again purely statistically – was 0.067.
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