German diaspora

The German diaspora consists of German people and their descendants living outside of Germany. The term is used in particular to refer to the aspects of migration of German speakers from Central Europe to different countries around the world. This definition describes German as a sociolinguistic group as opposed to the national one since the emigrant groups came from different regions with diverse cultural practices and different varieties of German. For instance, the Alsatians and Hessians were often simply called "Germans" once they set foot in their new homelands.

Terminology

Volksdeutsche is a historical term which arose in the early 20th century and was used by the Nazis to describe ethnic Germans, without German citizenship, living outside of Nazi Germany, although many had been in other areas for centuries. During World War II, Hitler forbade the use of the term because it was being used in a derogatory way against the many ethnic Germans in the SS. It is used by many historians who either deliberately or innocently are unaware of its Nazi history.
Auslandsdeutsche is a concept that connotes German citizens, regardless of which ethnicity, living abroad, or alternatively ethnic Germans entering Germany from abroad. Today, this means a citizen of Germany living more or less permanently in another country, who are allowed to vote in the Republic's elections, but who usually do not pay taxes to Germany but in their resident states. In a looser but still valid sense, and in general discourse, the word is frequently used in lieu of the ideologically tainted term Volksdeutsche, denoting persons living abroad without German citizenship but defining themselves as Germans.

Distribution

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, Brazil, Australia,
Argentina,
Chile,
Namibia and in central and eastern Europe—.
Distribution of German citizens and people claiming German ancestry :

Country	German ancestry	German citizens	Comments
United States	46,882,727	132,000	See German American, the largest German population outside Germany.
Brazil	5,000,000 to 12,000,000	40,980	See German Brazilian, the second largest German population outside Germany.
Canada	3,322,405	146,000	See German Canadian.
Argentina	2,500,000	9,000	See German Argentine.
South Africa	1,200,000	17,000	See Afrikaners and German South African.
Australia	1,026,138	107,940	See German Australian.
France	1,000,000	130,000	See German French Alsace and Lorraine. .
Chile	500,000	8,515	See German Chilean.
Switzerland	see note	450,000	See German Swiss and Swiss people.
Russia	394,138	142,000	See German Russian.
Bolivia	375,000		See German Bolivian.
Netherlands	372,720	79,470	See German Dutch.
Italy	314,604	35,000	See German Italian.
Paraguay	290,000		See German Paraguayan.
United Kingdom	273,654	92,000	See German Briton.
Uruguay	250,000	6,000	See German Uruguayan.
Peru	240,000		See German Peruvian.
Kazakhstan	178,409		See German Kazakhstani.
Hungary	131,951	178,000	see German Hungarian.
Austria	Depends on definition; see Austrians.	170,475	See German Austrian.
Poland	148,000	120,000	See German Pole.
Spain	138,917	112,000	See German Spaniard.
Turkey		115,958
Sweden	115,550	20,000	See German Swede.
Israel		100,000	See Sarona, German Colony, Haifa and German Colony, Jerusalem.
Mexico	75,000		See German Mexican.
Belgium	73,000	29,324	See German Belgian.
Romania	22,900	34,071	See German Romanian.
Ukraine	33,302		See Black Sea Germans and Crimea Germans.
Namibia	30,000		See German Namibian.
Dominican Republic	25,000	1,792
Norway	25,000	10,000	See German Norwegian.
Czech Republic	18,772	21,267	See German Czech and Sudeten Germans.
Portugal	Unknown	20,500	In addition, around 400 Germans have acquired Portuguese citizenship since 2008.
Greece		15,498	See German Greek.
Guyana	13,000	15,000	See German Guyanese.
Denmark	15,000	15,000	See North Schleswig Germans.
New Zealand	12,810		See German New Zealander.
Cuba	12,387		See German Cuban.
India	~11,000		See German Indian.
Luxembourg	Depends on definition; see Luxembourgers.	12,000	See German Luxembourger.
Ireland	10,000	11,305	See German Irish.
Belize	10,865		See Mennonites in Belize.
Costa Rica	10,000		See German Costa Rican.
Guatemala	500,000	7,000–10,000	See German Guatemalan.
Slovakia	5,000–10,000		See Carpathian Germans and Zipser Germans.
Finland	8,894	4,102	See German Finn.
Kyrgyzstan	8,563		See German Kyrgyzstani.
South Korea		10,763	See German South Korean.
Philippines	6,400		See German Filipino.
Latvia	4,975		See German Latvian.
Serbia	4,064	850	See German Serbian.
Uzbekistan	3,945		See German Uzbekistani.
Croatia	2,965		See German Croatian.
Lithuania	2,418		See German Lithuanian.
Estonia	1,544		See German Estonian.
Iceland	842		See German Icelander.
Montenegro	131	752	See German Montenegrin.
Jamaica	Unknown	300	See German Jamaican.
Liechtenstein	Depends on definition; see Liechtensteiners.		See German Liechtensteiner.
Nicaragua	Unknown		See German Nicaraguan.
Venezuela			See German Venezuelan.

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, and Slovakia, along with several post-Soviet states. There has been a continued historical presence of Germans in these regions due to the interrelated processes of conquest and colonization as well as migration and border changes. 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.

Baltic states

Belgium

In Belgium, there is an ethnic German minority. It is the majority in its region of 71,000 inhabitants. Ethnologue puts the national total of German speakers at 150,000, not including Limburgish and Luxembourgish.

Bulgaria

Czech Republic and Slovakia

Before World War II, some 30% of the population in Czechia were ethnic Germans, and in the border regions and certain other areas they were in the majority. There are about 21,000 Germans in the Czech Republic. 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.