Germanland Unity Day, the day Germans are reminded of their backyard

Foto dpa

You are now entering the de-economized zone. Here the official (!) statistic. The English version is much shorter.

Press release No. 376 dated 01.10.2018: On the Day of German Unification: Facts on the Living Situation

WIESBADEN - In Germany there were around 82.8 million people living in 2017. As reported by the Federal Statistical Office on the occasion of the Day of German Unity on 3 October, 16.2 million persons (19.5%) lived in the new Länder and Berlin, 66.6 million people (80.5%) lived in the former federal territory. In 1990, united Germany, with 79.8 million, had about 3 million fewer inhabitants. In western Germany, around 5 million more people lived in 2017 than at the time of the change (+ 8.2%). In contrast, the population in East Germany and Berlin has declined by about 2 million (-11.0%) compared to 1990.

Most children in East and West grow up with married parents. But in almost one in five families with at least one underage child (19%) in 2017, the mother or father was single parent. In the East, the share of lone parents in all families was 24.9%, in the west 17.5%. In Berlin, the single-parent share was highest at 27.6%, followed by Saxony-Anhalt (25.6%) and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (25.5%). It was lowest in Baden-Württemberg (15.3%), Bavaria (16.2%) and Rhineland-Palatinate (16.8%).

When it comes to balancing work and family, childcare offers are very important. As of the balance sheet date of 1.3.2017, every third child under the age of 3 (33.1%) was cared for in a daycare center or in child day care. In the former federal territory, the attendance rate for this age group was 28.8%, in the new Länder and Berlin 51.3%. Saxony-Anhalt ranked first with a support rate of 56.9%, followed by Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (56.0%) and Brandenburg (55.8%). The lowest attendance rates were in North Rhine-Westphalia (26.3%), Bremen (26.4%) and Bavaria (27.4%). However, there were hardly any regional differences in the care rate for 3- to 5-year-olds: this was 93.0% in the former federal territory and 94.8% in the new Länder and Berlin.

The living conditions of people in Germany include how much money they spend on their everyday lives. Average consumer spending in the East (€ 2 078) in 2016 was around 80% of the western level (€ 2 587). These are results of the current economic accounts. Despite the differences in level, consumption patterns in the two parts of the country are almost identical: for basic needs such as housing, food and clothing, households spent on average about half of their total consumption (53.6% in West, 53.3% in East).

(Google translate)

A week ago the FAZ ran an article

"We better shut down some villages"

It gets better:

Politics has made many mistakes in the East, says Joachim Ragnitz from the Ifo Institute in Dresden. He advises bonuses for people to move to the larger cities. And is happy about every job that is not opened in the East.

 FAZ today: Standstill East Germany (pay-walled)

And on the corporate side "There are hardly any East Germans in the Dax executive boards".

Just four percent of top German managers were born or studied in East Germany. It looks even gloomier among the CEOs of the Dax companies.