German media report that even the statisticians were baffled by the results of the German census of 2011 made public this week.
1.5 million fewer people live in the country than expected.
This is going to be a cute headline all over the world but we want to know how it happens and what it means.
The how is easy.
They had not done a census in 20 years, and just adding and subtracting people over that period resulted in bad numbers. So, it was not that the rapture has started and Germans just happen to be the first set called up...
What does it mean?
Record keeping
To us, it makes us question the record keeping ability of the Germans. They have been justly both famous and infamous for keeping records in the past.
And now, where did that go? How can it be that the Nazis and the East German commies with nothing but pencils and slide rulers out-record a modern computer based society?
Is it the school system? Are the doomsday prophets here right after all? Search this blog for "school" and "education" to find out more.
Frightening economic power
With 80,2 million people, Germany is an economic powerhouse right there next to China and the U.S. in many areas.
And they did all of this with 1.5 million people LESS than everybody thought!
With supposedly comically short working hours to boot, something does not tally.
More research needed
Mere minutes after the survey became public, the K-landnews team grabbed their clipboards and pens and fanned out over the town to investigate.
But we failed to find enough people to interview -- we suspect that this is due to 1.5 million Germans going missing over night.
We will not give up until we have found at least a few of them.
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