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Reunification: An Economic Success Story

People’s expectations after the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and of reunification in 1990 were huge. The government promised to create “flourishing landscapes” within a few years. The euphoria of reunification came not only through the desire to finally become one country and one nation again but also had tangible economic reasons: the people from East Germany wanted better economic prospects, ...

Eastern Germany Still Playing Economic Catch-Up

The economic gap between eastern and western Germany is still sizeable, even 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In terms of GDP per inhabitant and productivity, eastern Germany has attained nearly three-quarters of western German levels, respectively. Since some years, the catch-up process is advancing very slowly indeed. The main reason for low productivity is the lack of highly skilled jobs. ...

Eastern Germany Must Focus on Education and Innovation: Six Questions to Karl Brenke

Private Net Worth in Eastern and Western Germany Only Converging Slowly

Very nearly 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, households in eastern Germany have an average net worth of 67,400 euros which is less than half that of their counterparts in western Germany with an average net worth of 153,200 euros. In both parts of the country, real estate ownership is quantitatively the most important asset type. Although the share of owner-occupiers has increased significantly ...

Eastern Germany Ahead in Employment of Women

Almost a quarter of a century after the fall of the Wall, there are still more women in employment in eastern Germany than in the west. Although the disparity is marginal now, the two regions started from dramatically different levels. In 1991, immediately after reunification, the employment rate for women in western Germany was 54.6 percent, but since then it has increased year on year, reaching 67.5 ...

Gender Pension Gap in Eastern and Western Germany

Now, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, eastern and western German men are receiving similar state pensions, the main pillar in the system of old age provision in Germany. In contrast, the average pension paid to eastern German women far exceeds that of their western counterparts. A cohort comparison shows a narrowing of the gender gap when it comes to pension entitlements in eastern Germany. ...

Childcare Trends in Germany: Increasing Socio-Economic Disparities in East and West

In East Germany, prior to reunification, daycare provision was widely available to encourage mothers to return to work soon after giving birth. Conversely, in West Germany, childcare facilities for under-threes were few and far between and, at the end of the ’80s/ beginning of the ’90s, the length of parental leave was gradually extended up to three years following the birth of a child. Since 2005, ...

Wages in Eastern Germany Still Considered More Unjust Than in the West

Almost twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, far more eastern Germans are unhappy with their income than western Germans. In 2013, around 44 percent of employed eastern Germans rated their earnings as unjust compared with approximately one-third in western Germany. Although the east-west gap has been diminishing since 2005—to around 12 percent in 2013—this is not because eastern Germans ...

Everyone Happy: Living Standards in Germany 25 Years after Reunification

It is now a quarter of a century since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the gap in living standards between eastern and western Germany is still not fully closed. Admittedly, this could not realistically have been expected. Despite the increase in life satisfaction in eastern Germany, the east-west divide prevails. Evidence of this can be found in the latest data from the long-term Socio-Economic Panel ...

Reunification - An Economic Success Story

by Karl Brenke, Marcel Fratzscher, Markus M. Grabka, Elke Holst, Sebastian Hülle, Stefan Liebig, Maximilian Priem, Anika Rasner, Pia S. Schober, Jürgen Schupp, Juliane F. Stahl, Anna Wieber in: DIW Economic Bulletin 11/2014 People’s expectations after the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago and of reunification in 1990 were huge. The government promised to create “flourishing ...