For: Germanic tribes
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For: Germanic tribes
The German people ( ) are an ethnic group, in the sense of sharing a common German culture, descent, and speaking the German language as a mother tongue. Within Germany, Germans are defined by citizenship (Federal Germans, Bundesdeutsche), distinguished from people of German ancestry (Deutschstämmige). Historically, in the context of the German Empire (1871-1918), German citizens (Imperial Germans, Reichsdeutsche) were distinguished from ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche).
Out of approximately 100 million native speakers of German in the world, about 66-75 million consider themselves Germans. There are an additional 80 million people of German ancestry (mainly in the USA, Brazil, Argentina, France and Canada) who are not native speakers of German. Fact: date=January 2009
Thus, the total number of Germans worldwide lies between 66 and 160 million, depending on the criteria applied (native speakers, single-ancestry ethnic Germans, partial German ancestry, etc.). In the U.S., 43 million or 15.2% of citizens identify as German American according to the United States Census of 2000. Although the percentage has declined, it is still more than any other group. According to the U.S. Census Bureau - 2006 American Community Survey, approximately 51 million citizens identify themselves as having German ancestry.
Ethnic Germans
main: Ethnic Germans
The term Ethnic Germans may be used in several ways. It may serve to distinguish Germans from those who may have citizenship in the German state but are not Germans; or it may indicate Germans living as minorities in other nations. In English usage, but less often in German, Ethnic Germans may be used for assimilated descendants of German emigrants.
Ethnic Germans form an important minority group in several countries in central and eastern Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Russia) as well as in Namibia, Brazil (German-Brazilian), Chile (approx. 4% of the population) and Argentina (approx. 7.5% of the population).
Some groups may be classified as Ethnic Germans despite no longer having German as their mother tongue or belonging to a distinct German culture. Until the 1990s, two million Ethnic Germans lived throughout the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia and Kazakhstan.
In the United States 1990 census, 57 million people are fully or partly of German ancestry, forming the largest single ethnic group in the country. Most Americans of German descent live in the northern Midwest (especially in Wisconsin, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, southern Michigan and eastern Missouri), and the Mid-Atlantic states (especially Pennsylvania). But historically Germanic immigrant enclaves can be found in many other states (e.g., the German Texans and the Denver, Colorado area) and to a lesser extent, the Pacific Northwest (i.e. Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington state).
