The Federal Office of Statistics registered only 673,000 births in 2006 – 13,000 fewer births than in 2005 and the lowest number since 1946. That same year, a total of 822,000 people died, meaning that there were 149,000 more deaths than births in Germany, continuing the trend of previous years. The federal government is trying to keep the population from declining by offering financial support to families and easing entry requirements for skilled immigrants, but its efforts have not been terribly successful thus far. In the years immediately after unification, the birthrate dropped sharply in the former GDR, but it is now nearly the same as in the West.