Topic
Germany
35 Years of Reunification
MPIDR Researchers Discuss the Demographic Situation in Germany
Thirty-five years after German reunification, various demographic indicators suggest that the country is still not united. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) summarize the current situation in Eastern and Western Germany in a series of short quotes. They answer questions about what unites and divides people in Germany in terms of their lifestyles, life expectancy, health, fertility and mobility.
© istockphoto.com/Olga Osipchuk
Life Expectancy and Health
© MPIDR
Josephine Jackisch
Research Scientist Laboratory of Population Health
jackisch@demogr.mpg.de
“From the 1970s until after reunification, life expectancy in East Germany was significantly lower than in West Germany. These inequalities have largely disappeared, which is an enormous gain in terms of health equity, especially since there has been little convergence in the distribution of wealth. However, there are initial signs in recent years that the gap between East and West might grow again. I am particularly shocked by the significant disparities in childhood circumstances, as these can have long-term consequences. Nearly one in four children in Eastern Germany is at risk of poverty — about twice the rate in Western Germany. However, the east-west comparison falls short. A more differentiated view of regional and socioeconomic inequalities is more worthwhile.”
© courtesy of Jonas Schöley
Jonas Schöley
Research Scientist Laboratory of Population Health
schoeley@demogr.mpg.de
“Thirty-five years after reunification, women in Eastern and Western Germany have the same life expectancy. For men, however, the gap in life expectancy between the two regions has remained stagnant for years. The shorter life expectancy in the east is largely explained by "preventable causes of death," such as smoking and alcohol consumption. Therefore, the east-west differences in mortality are not a matter of fate, but rather a reflection of different living conditions.”
References
[1] Statistisches Bundesamt
[2] Mühlichen, M., Mathias Lerch, M., Markus Sauerberg, M., Grigoriev, P.: Different health systems – Different mortality outcomes? Regional disparities in avoidable mortality across German-speaking Europe, 1992–2019. Social Science & Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115976
Working Life, Family, Career and Retirement
© MPIDR
Christian Dudel
Deputy Head (Research Group: Labor Demography)
dudel@demogr.mpg.de
“Significant differences in working life expectancy still exist between East and West. While East German women work an average of one year longer than West German women, the opposite is true for men: West German men work an average of one year longer than their East German counterparts.”
© MPIDR
Nicole Hiekel
Research Group Leader: Gender Inequalities and Fertility
hiekel@demogr.mpg.de
“German reunification brought together two different traditions of balancing family and career. In East Germany, women were heavily integrated into the labor market before reunification, and childcare was organized primarily by society. In the West, however, caregiving remained predominantly the responsibility of families, especially women. Even 35 years later, these differences persist: women in the Eastern Germany are more likely to work full-time, while part-time work is more common in Western Germany. While women's participation in the labor market has increased overall, the unequal distribution of care work remains a key challenge because it stalls gender equality and distributes social participation unevenly between women and men.”
© MPIDR
Philipp Dierker
Research Scientist Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being
dierker@demogr.mpg.de
“While the divorce rate was significantly higher in East Germany than in West Germany during the GDR era, more marriages have ended in divorce in West Germany since reunification. This can be explained in part by differences in legal regulations that were no longer in force in Eastern Germany after reunification. For example, reunification introduced a mandatory one-year separation period to Eastern Germany, and changes to the work of family courts led to delays in proceedings.”
Fertility and Birth Rates
© MPIDR
Steffen Peters
Research Scientist Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being
peters@demogr.mpg.de
„Similar to those among women, fertility differences between East and West German men have decreased over time. While fertility in East Germany fell significantly shortly after reunification and then rose again, it has remained relatively constant among West German men.”
© MPIDR
Henrik Schubert
Research Scientist Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being
schubert@demogr.mpg.de
“Although the fertility rates in Eastern and Western Germany have converged significantly in the first decades of the 21st century and are now almost identical, the former inner-German border continues to be reflected in regional differences in fertility. The remaining differences are mainly due to cultural and institutional factors, particularly with regard to childlessness and the prevalence of two-child families, which are much more common in Western Germany. In contrast, early first births and one-child families are still more common in Eastern Germany.”
Migration
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Athina Anastasiadou
Doctoral Student Laboratory of Migration and Mobility
anastasiadou@demogr.mpg.de
“Migration from Eastern to Western Germany is a notable example of gender-specific migration and its demographic consequences in the field of migration research. At the turn of the millennium, many well-educated young women left Eastern Germany to build a future for themselves in Western Germany. Since fewer women from Western Germany moved to Eastern Germany, this resulted in an imbalanced gender distribution. This continues to have demographic consequences for Eastern Germany today, especially in rural areas. Since 2016, more people have been moving from Western Germany to Eastern Germany than the other way around. This west-to-east migration is strongly influenced by return migration.”
© MPIDR
Aliakbar Akbaritabar
Research Scientist and Deputy Head - Training Laboratory of Migration and Mobility
akbaritabar@demogr.mpg.de
“From 2019 to 2020, I led a research project focused on the scientific landscape of the Berlin metropolitan region. The final publication showed that, although scientific institutions in the Berlin region formed strong collaboration connections after reunification, there is still potential to be realized in the future. A recent study compared East and West Germany with neighboring countries that have similar cultural, geographical, and economic properties, as well as a similar size of scientific workforce. These countries include Austria and Switzerland. Using historical data from the past 60 years, we found that West Germany recovered faster after WWII and continued its scientific production. In contrast, scientific institutions in East Germany were severely impacted by the partition, and most of their recovery occurred after reunification. The good news is that the Eastern German science system has recovered well in terms of scientific production and collaborations since reunification. These results demonstrate that changes in societal context can affect the scientific system.”
References
[1] Akbaritabar, A.: A quantitative view of the structure of institutional scientific collaborations using the example of Berlin. Quantitative Science Studies (2021). DOI: 10.1162/qss_a_00131
[2] Akbaritabar, A., Dańko, M. J., Zhao, X., & Zagheni, E.: Global subnational estimates of migration of scientists reveal large disparities in internal and international flows. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI:10.1073/pnas.2424521122
© MPIDR
Thiago Zordan Malaguth
Doctoral Student Laboratory of Migration and Mobility
zordanmalaguth@demogr.mpg.de
“At the end of the 1990s and during the first decade of the 2000s, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern gained more scientists through migration than it lost. However, a change occurred over the past decade, with this northern state losing more scientists than it gained. While most scientists leaving the region stay in Germany, mainly going to Berlin, I have noted an increase in scientists going to other European countries after 2000 and to Asia after 2010.”
Other Content Related to German Unity Day
MPIDR Publications and Preprints
Schubert, H.-A.; Skirbekk, V.; Nisén, J.:
MPIDR Working Paper WP-2024-040. (2024)
Hünteler , B. M.; Polizzi, A.; van Raalte, A. A.:
SocArXiv papers. unpublished. (2024)
Dudel, C.; Loichinger, E.; Klüsener, S.; Sulak, H.; Myrskylä, M.:
Demography, 1–23. (2023)
Kühn, M.; Dudel, C.; Werding, M.:
Social Science Research 114:102906, 1–14. (2023)
Kolobova, M.; Jdanov, D. A.; Jasilionis, D.; Shkolnikov, V. M.; Rau, R.:
European Journal of Public Health, 1–7. (2023)
Mazzeo, F.; Schwartz, C.; Scherer, S.; Vitali, A.:
Comparative Population Studies 49, 317–336. submitted. (2024)
Schubert, H.-A.: Encouraging Mothers: The effect of German regional childcare policies on maternal employment between 2006 and 2018. Stockholm Research Reports in Demography. DOI: 10.17045/sthlmuni.12833744.v1
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