Berlin, Jul 3 (IANS): Birth rate in Germany, Europe's most populous nation, hits all time low, with merely 663,000 children born in 2011, down by 2.2 percent, as compared with the previous year.

The figure was 215,000 fewer than the year before, Xinhua quoted the Wiesbaden-based Federal Statistical Office of Germany as saying.

The birth rate steadily kept on a downward trend since 1964.

Since 1972, deaths had outnumbered that of the newly-born children, while the gap between the birth-death ratio also increased remarkably during the past years.

The number of deaths in 2011 fell only slightly by 0.7 percent to reach at 852,000, however, its momentum still remains a little bit stronger than in the births.

Despite the negative trends persisted, the German population increased last year due to a remarkable influx of more immigrants into the country, the statistical office said.

A total of 279,000 people moved into and settled down in Germany in 2011, posting the highest figure during the past decade.