Other small groups of people in Germany are Croats ( 0.2 million ) , Italians ( 0.6 million ) , Greeks ( 0.4 million ) , Russians , and Poles ( 0.3 million ) . There are also some ethnic Germans who lived in the old Soviet Union ( 1.7 million ) , Poland ( 0.7 million ) , and Romania ( 0.3 million ) . Large numbers of people with full or significant German ancestry are found in the United States ( 50 million ) , Brazil ( 5 million ) and Canada ( 3 million ) .