Refugees arriving from Ukraine have helped bring Germany's population to its highest level, with more than 84 million people now living in the most populous country of the European Union, the Federal Statistical Office reported.

Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and by some measures the oldest population, but its wealth, demand for labor and relatively open immigration policies made it an attractive destination for migrants even before the EU opened its doors to Ukrainians, Reuters reported.

The Federal Statistics Office reported that in the first half of 2022, the population grew by 1 percent, or 843,000 people. For all of 2021, the population grew by only 0.1 percent. Net immigration to Germany was 750,000 people from Ukraine during the same period.

Growth on a comparable scale has been seen only three times since German reunification in 1990, and each time it was associated with a wave of refugees.

Germany's female population grew by 1.2 percent, significantly more than the male population, which increased by 0.8 percent, reflecting the fact that it was mostly women and children who fled the war in Ukraine. Men of fighting age are not allowed to leave the country.