Society: Annual Report on Unity: Differences “as if cast in concrete”?

33 years after German unification, the federal government sees great progress in the country’s integration, but also sees a need for further action. “Structural differences between East and West Germany have been reduced, and in some cases they have disappeared,” says the published report on the status of German unity.

“Nevertheless, many East and West Germans assess the country’s situation differently.” Breaks and conflicts would keep the government and citizens busy for a long time.

Strong approach

The regularly presented report is an inventory with numerous statistics not only on economic power or wages, but also on living conditions. All important points have come a long way since the unification of the former Federal Republic of Germany with the GDR on October 3, 1990.

This includes, for example, life expectancy, which in 1990 was two to three years lower in the East than in the West. For women, the difference has hardly been visible since the 2000s, according to the report presented by Eastern Commissioner Carsten Schneider. However, there remains a gap for men.

Life expectancy also fell more sharply in the East during the Corona pandemic than in the West, so that differences have partly grown again.

Despite equalization, there remains a gap in economic power and wages. The gross domestic product per capita in eastern Germany in 2022 was 79 percent of the value in the west. The average annual gross wage in the East in 2022 was 34,841 euros, around 86 percent of the West level.

In addition to the usual East-West comparison, Schneider also wanted to identify common trends this time – such as the urban-rural divide in both parts of the country. The challenges and needs in rural areas in the East are often closer to rural areas in the West than to large cities in the East, the report notes.

Bartsch: East-West differences as if set in concrete

The Left demands more efforts for better wages and living conditions in East Germany. “The differences between East and West are as if cemented in,” criticized Bundestag faction leader Dietmar Bartsch before the publication of the report on the status of German unity. “There’s far too little movement. The traffic lights are objectively doing everything they can to ensure that anger and dissatisfaction in the East grows.”

Bartsch called Schneider’s report “a bitter interim report on the work of the federal government” and gave it a grade of “unsatisfactory.” The East Germany policy of the traffic light coalition is no better than that of the previous government. Schneider needs to put more pressure on the federal government and the chancellor, said Bartsch.

Tiefensee: East-West alignment will take another 10 to 20 years

From the point of view of the Thuringian Economics Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, the economic convergence of East and West Germany will take decades to come. “We definitely need another 10 or 20 years until the conditions are really equalized so that we can talk about equal living conditions,” said the SPD politician on Deutschlandfunk.

So far, the reconstruction of the East has been a “unique success story,” emphasized Tiefensee, former mayor of Leipzig and Federal Minister of Transport. But: “There is still a lot to do.”

He cited the often low pensions and wages in East Germany and possible poverty in old age, but also the weaker spending on research and development, the small-scale economy and emigration. “All of this has to be addressed precisely,” said Tiefensee.