According to estimates of the Central Statistical Office, some 8 million people (14%) in the Federal Republic of Germany have moved over the past thirty years. Slightly more than half of them have thereby crossed the border of a municipality, and have thus, according to statistical definition, undertaken a migration. In order to answer the question how these migratory movements of the past have influenced, and will influence, population development and settlement patterns, several methodological steps are required. 

First, a short description of the settlement pattern in the FRG and an analysis of the influence of migrations on population development are offered on a global level. Then follows a description of regional population structures and developments. To enable us to estimate the future development of settlement patterns and population, methods of regional population analysis, further methods for trend-projections and labor-market oriented models of forecast are used. This permits an evaluation of the efficiency of multiregional population analysis. Presumptive population development and distribution will be set off against population-relevant objectives of regional planning and state planning.