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Destatis: official statistics for Germany

Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office (Statistisches Bundesamt), is Germany's national statistics office, based in Wiesbaden. It publishes consumer prices, GDP and the national accounts, population estimates, births, deaths and migration, earnings, public debt and deficits, house prices and living conditions. Registered unemployment is published separately by the Federal Employment Agency. Many pages and all press releases are available in English.

Release calendar

What it publishes

Consumer price index and HICP, with a flash estimate at month end and final results about two weeks later.
Quarterly GDP (flash and detailed results), annual national accounts and the government deficit.
Population estimates based on the 2022 census, births, deaths, life expectancy and migration flows.
Earnings, the minimum-wage and low-wage sectors and the gender pay gap.
Public debt of federal, state and local budgets.
The house price index and construction prices.
Living conditions and risk of poverty from EU-SILC; the ILO unemployment rate from the labour force survey.

Key datasets

Inflation rate press release
Monthly CPI and HICP with breakdown by energy, food, goods and services.
Updated: Monthly
National accounts, domestic product
GDP growth, levels and the general government deficit.
Updated: Quarterly
Current population
Quarterly population by sex and German or foreign nationality.
Updated: Quarterly
Earnings by economic activity
Gross monthly and hourly earnings of full-time employees by sector.
Updated: Annual (April reference month)
Public debt
Debt of the public budgets by level of government.
Updated: Quarterly and annual
Federal Employment Agency statistics
Registered unemployment, underemployment, vacancies and employment subject to social insurance.
Updated: Monthly

APIs and downloads

GENESIS-Online
The main Destatis database, with tables downloadable as CSV and Excel, and a web service (API) for registered users.
Destatis open data
Overview of machine-readable Destatis data and how to access it.

When it publishes

Destatis publishes press releases on working days and lists upcoming releases in its weekly press preview. Inflation is monthly, GDP quarterly (a first estimate about a month after the quarter, detailed results a few weeks later), and births and life expectancy annually. The Federal Employment Agency publishes its monthly labour market report around the end of each month.

How to use it to check a claim

For unemployment, say which measure: registered unemployment from the Federal Employment Agency (about 6%) or the ILO rate from Destatis (about 4%).
For inflation, check whether a figure is the CPI or HICP and the flash or final result.
Population figures since 2022 are based on the 2022 census and are lower than older estimates; do not compare across the break.
For debt, separate the national public-budget measure from the EU Maastricht gross debt ratio.
For poverty, note the income reference year is the year before the survey year.
Check corrections: Destatis marks corrected releases with 'CORRECTION' and highlights changed figures.

Common mistakes

Reading the at-risk-of-poverty rate as absolute poverty; it is relative to median income.
Treating migration flows as asylum figures.
Comparing quarterly GDP growth with annual growth rates.

Does Destatis publish in English?

Yes. Press releases and the main topic pages have English versions; some tables and detailed reports are only in German.

Who publishes Germany's monthly unemployment figure?

The Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) publishes registered unemployment each month. Destatis publishes the ILO unemployment rate from the labour force survey.

Is GENESIS-Online free?

Yes. Tables can be viewed and downloaded without charge; registering gives larger downloads and API access.

Questions answered using this source

Links checked 14 October 2026. This page describes what the source publishes and gives no verdict on any claim.