Dundorf

[TheNick]

Preliminary Census Results Point to a 120 Million Population
April 5737

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Dunburg, the Federal Capital, is the largest city.

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DUNBURG - The Federal Ministry of the Interior started releasing early data from the 5736 census on Friday, beginning with the total population figure, showing that Dundorf's population amounts to 120.054.144 people, a figure that has now been stable for a couple of decades, but far from the 140 million figure of the late 5500s/early 5600s. "This decline is a result of multiple factors", explains Dr. Markus Umfrage, the Director of the Federal Statistical Office: "our citizens have far fewer children compared to centuries ago, so this decline in this time frame is kind of expected". The Director added: "On average, in the past decades, the population fluctuation has stabilized with a consistent fertility rate and moderate immigration."

The early data on ethnicity and religious affiliation suggest little changes: the non-religious population, predominant in Dundorf due to its authoritarian communist past, declined slightly from 50% to 49,5%, remaining by far the dominant group. Hosians remain the largest religious group in the nation, with 35% of people identifying as Ameliorate, 9% as Aurorian and 2,5% as Eastern Hobrazian. Other major religions outside of Hosianism are Ahmadism and Yeudism, both at 1,5%, and other smaller confessions grouped together at 1%.

On ethnicity, Dundorfians remains by far the largest group: 82% of the population identify as such, followed by Nariks, stable at 9%. Other more diverse groups, resulting from immigration, include Delics and Lurrian people (from Kundrati) respectively at 2,5% and 1%, Endralonians 1%, Yeudish people at 1,5% and other people, including Majatrans, Rutanians and Luthorians, at 3%.

The most interesting data, though, lie in the regional breakdown of the population, the part of the census that was more dear to Interior Minister Glueck (KBP) for his planned Federal States Reform. The most populous state remains Oderveld at a staggering 49.029.693 people, one of the few states alongside Dunlake to increase its population. A large reason for Oderveld's high population lies in the fact that it hosts the capital city of Dunburg, sitting alone at 7.981.403 people, and the fertile agricultural western lands, which despite lacking major cities, show a very high population density in its towns and small cities. The second largest state is Dunlake, at  30.311.773, followed by Chontalen, at 19.412.733. Smaller states include the eastern and more mountainous ones, such as Grozvic (11.021.549) and Julstoch (10.278.396).

The regional data, as we said, is very interesting for the Interior Minister: a strong proponent of federalism and local powers, the Minister commented on this data: 

This census tells us one truth: the state of Oderveld is too large and too geographically diverse for its local government to manage efficiently. On one part, you have the agricultural west, on another you have Dunburg and its suburbs and in the eastern part you have the mountains. We will propose the partition of that state in three: Oderveld (named after the Ode Valley) will retain the plain central and western areas, and Neukirchstadt will become its capital. Dunburg will be made a city-state, so that the urban problems of the state can be tackled by a urban governance. And the eastern part lying in the Muzel mountains will become a brand new state called Muzelstein, and the capital will be Unterschloss. Additionally, I can confirm that we will use this new census data to reapportion the seats in Bundestag and give better representation to all.

The Zeitung understands that in the coming weeks, the Federal Government will present the legislation before Bundestag to proceed with this change, and little opposition is expected: for a long time, the center-left parties said it was 'unfair' for a left-leaning city like Dunburg to have a conservative-leaning government, while the center-right parties will finally pursue greater devolution of powers, a very dear issue to them. The Federal Statistical Office says that further and more complex data will be published in the coming months on the official website: www.statistik.dundorf.gov