In 2022, a new census took place in Germany. The aim of the statistical survey is to determine how many people live in Germany and how they live and work. Many decisions at national, regional and local level are based on population and housing figures. The national population has to be regularly counted to provide reliable figures for planning. As most of this data are sourced from administrative registers, most inhabitants do not have to provide any information. In Germany, the 2022 census is based on administrative registers, supplemented by a random sample and combined with a census of buildings and housing. The 2022 census in Germany will form part of a series of censuses throughout the European Union that have been taking place every ten years since 2011. The census has been postponed from 2021 to 2022 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The last full censuses took place in 1987 in the former territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 1981 in the former German Democratic Republic (i.e. before the Berlin Wall came down, before the euro was introduced and before the European Union was expanded). The first EU-wide census followed in 2011.

The 2022 census will once again provide the latest reliable population figures for the German municipalities, federal states and the country as a whole. The official population is an important basis for numerous legal regulations. For example, the population figures are used to divide Germany into constituencies and determine the distribution of votes in the upper house. Some equalisation payments are also calculated per capita such as EU subsidies and domestic payments used to redistribute revenue among the federal states and municipalities.

The United Nations recommend counting the population every ten years. By conducting the 2022 census, Germany also complies with a regulation adopted by the European Union, which requires the member states to record their current population figures every ten years.