L’ex-Allemagne de l’Est ne parvient pas à combler son retard

Inffographie : F. Descheemaekere

Demographics, economic power split Germany

[Deutsche Welle]

More than two decades after reunification, equality between eastern and western Germany remains elusive. A shrinking population as well as less economic power make it difficult for Germany's East to catch up.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich began with the good news from the annual report on German unity. "Unemployment in eastern Germany has, fortunately, clearly fallen, and in the summer of 2012 reached its lowest point since German reunification," he said. There were some 869,000 unemployed people in the states that at one time made up East Germany, putting the unemployment rate at 10.3 percent. That, however, is still higher than the 6 percent unemployment rate in the rest of Germany. More than two decades after reunification, there are few differences between the former eastern and western states in many areas, such as education and health, but eastern Germany continues to lag behind the West when it comes to the economy, Friedrich said when presenting the report.
Eastern Germany experienced a slight decline in economic performance in 2011. Compared to their countrymen in the West, the gross domestic product per capita last year in eastern Germany fell from 73 percent in 2010 to 71 percent.

Lire : dw.de