Wiesbaden, Germany - Germany experienced an unexpected drop in birth rates in 2008, while more people died than the previous year, according to figures released Tuesday.

The Office of National Statistics estimates that 675,000 babies were born last year, a drop of 1.1 per cent compared to the previous year's figure of 683,000.

Earlier estimates had anticipated a possible increase in birth rates over 2007.

In contrast, 844,000 people died in Germany in 2008, which is 2.4 per cent more than the previous year.

This means there were 168,000 fewer births than deaths during 2008. In the previous year, the difference had been 141,000.

Birth and death rates do not give a comprehensive picture of the overall population size, as they do not take migration figures into account.

Tuesday's figures also showed that pregnant women in Germany are increasingly giving birth by Caesarean section. The latest figures, for 2007, show that 29 per cent of babies were delivered through the operation. Ten years previously the figure had been 18.5 per cent.

In February, the government had published a report predicting an increase in births for 2008. At the time, Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen said more women were having children between the ages of 30 and 40.

The lowest birth rate since World War II was in 2006, when 673,000 babies were born.

New cash incentives were introduced at the end of 2006 to encourage childbirth, including welfare support measures giving parents up to 67 per cent of their pay whilst staying at home to raise children.

German women give birth to an average of 1.36 children in their lifetime. While the fertility rate has been relatively constant, the declining population means there are fewer women to bear children.

A shrinking population would mean there are fewer people to contribute to the pension pot for an ageing population.

Demographics expert Reiner Dinkel, from Rostock University, says the low birth rates are not the result of few people having children, but rather because people don't have many children - a factor which he says is difficult for the state to influence.

"As demographics professor, I wouldn't lock anyone into the bedroom in order to solve the pension problems," Dinkel told German Press Agency dpa last month.

Final figures, due to be released in August, will include Germany's birth rate per woman, as well as the age at which women are having children.(dpa)