Halle had roughly 1,600 inhabitants in the year 1880. For the year 1939 a number of 3,500 (without incorporations) and 8,169 (with incorporations) is known. Due to a large number of refugees that came into Halle as a consequence of World War II the number of inhabitants grew to 15,258 (with incorporations until December 31, 1961. Since the incorporation of surrounding villages in 1973 generally only one combined figure is surveyed. While in 1998 Halle had 20,023 inhabitants, this number grew continually to 21,638 until April 30, 2007. The table on the right illustrates the increase in population across the entire known stretch, prior to 1871 the numbers are stated without incorporations, since 1871 with incorporations. 1 present territory The Community Profile of the North Rhine-Westphalian authority for data processing and statistics typecasts Halle as a "small medium-sized town" and compares it to other cities of that type. While the population development was comparable to other cities of the same type until c. 2001 the increase in Halle is substantially higher since then. On an Index the average for the type "small medium-sized town" arrived at 115 (1976 = 100), whereas Halle reached 119, in effect roughly 3.5% higher. Comparing the population increase with North Rhine-Westphalia in total, the figure increases to 12.3%. However, the growth mainly recruits from migration since for a number of years the relation between birth rate and death rate has been even. Compared to other cities of the same type as well as to North Rhine-Westphalia there are no statistically significant deviations with respect to the population structure based on age groups, but Halle has a significantly lower number of severely disabled persons. Politics Town council As a result of communal elections on August 30, 2009 currently the CDU, the SPD, The Greens, the FDP as well as two independent voters' alliances, the UWG and the STU (agenda party favouring a specific marked-out route for the unfinished motorway) are represented in the Halle town council. Communal politics are strongly coined by local topics, with one of the major issues of the voters being the future dealing with the Bundesautobahn 33 (see below). The above-mentioned STU stood for election for the first time in 2004, their only agenda being the continuation of the Autobahn on a specific marked-out route. The STU gained 6 seats at the first go and took away votes mainly from the CDU,