Editing Eisenach (section)

== Demographics ==
[[File:Population of Eisenach.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Evolution of population since 1830]]
Eisenach has always been one of the larger towns in Thuringia with 4,000 to 5,000 inhabitants during the Middle Ages. By 1800, the population rose to 8,000 and further to 10,000 as industrialisation started around 1850. In 1875, the town had 16,000 inhabitants, 30,000 in 1900, 43,000 in 1925 and more than 50,000 in 1940, as the peak was reached. Like the most other east German mid-sized towns, Eisenach has had a shrinking population since 1950. It declined to 48,000 in 1990, 44,000 in 2000 and 42,000 in 2012. During the last few years (2009–2012), the annual change was {{nobr|-0.12%}}. Suburbanization played only a small role in Eisenach. It occurred after reunification for a short time in the 1990s, but most of the suburban areas are situated within the administrative town borders.

The birth deficit was 240 in 2012, or -5.7 per 1,000 inhabitants (Thuringian average: -4.5; national average: -2.4). The net migration rate was +6.5 per 1,000 inhabitants in 2012 (Thuringian average: -0.8; national average: +4.6).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tls.thueringen.de/startseite_hinweis.asp|title=Thüringer Landesamt für Statistik|first=Thüringer Landesamt für|last=Statistik|website=www.tls.thueringen.de|access-date=18 March 2018}}</ref> The most important regions of origin of people who have moved to Eisenach are rural areas of Thuringia as well as foreign countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.

Like in other eastern German cities, only a small share of Eisenach's population is foreign: circa 2.3% are non-Germans by citizenship and overall 4.9% are classified as "migrants" (according to the [[2011 EU census]]). Differing from the national average, the biggest groups of migrants in Eisenach are [[Vietnamese people in Germany|Vietnamese]], [[Russians in Germany|Russians]] and [[Ukrainians in Germany|Ukrainians]].

Due to the official atheism of the former [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]], most of the population is non-religious: 23.0% are members of the [[Evangelical Church in Central Germany]] and 4.4% are Catholics (according to the 2011 EU census).