Overview
- The Federal Statistical Office reported on Wednesday that about 805,200 children started first grade in 2026/27, a fall of 0.7 percent or roughly 6,000 pupils from the year before.
- Nearly every federal state recorded declines with the largest proportional drops in Mecklenburg‑Vorpommern, Thuringia and Brandenburg while Saarland, Bavaria and Lower Saxony showed increases.
- Most children (93 percent) began at Grundschulen, 3.6 percent at Förderschulen and 2.6 percent at three‑track school types, and boys made up 51 percent overall but 69 percent of Förderschule entrants.
- Destatis warns these are Schnellmeldung rapid figures that will be checked and could change, so regional totals and small shifts by school type may be revised.
- The decline continues a trend that peaked after high migration years and a 2020 birth dip, a pattern that could affect local school capacity, staffing and funding decisions in coming years.