Has Germany grown together?
How Germany’s reunification that happened 35 years ago has changed the country at the societal, economic and political level.
How has Germany changed after the reunification?
The reunification has led to profound changes in Germany. The 1990 Unification Treaty provided for the GDR – a socialist dictatorship whose economy had collapsed – with its five federal states and East Berlin to join the German Democratic Republic. The united republic has since had 16 federal states.
Aiming to compensate for economic and social differences, Germany invested hundreds of billions of euros in the East, especially in the areas of infrastructure, communities and business development. Many of the former GDR enterprises were privatised or liquidated.
How do younger generations feel about German unity?
One third of the German population was born after 1990. Surveys show that these generations tend to think favourably of Germany’s unity. An Otto Brenner survey conducted in 2019 demonstrated that young people in the East and the West have many shared values, but do see differences when it comes to opportunities and identity: people from Eastern Germany often think of themselves of “Eastern German”, while those from Western Germany are less likely to stress their geographical background. It was found in the 2024 Deutschland-Monitor survey that an overwhelming majority of 98 percent of people from all federal states are in favour of democracy.
What is “inner unity” and has it been achieved?
The term “inner unity” is used to refer to the impression that the East and West have merged: equal professional opportunities, similar living conditions, a sense of togetherness. Quality of life has noticeably improved in the East in the past 35 years. Nevertheless, the gross domestic product per capita is still lower in Eastern Germany than in the West.
In her annual report, the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Eastern Germany states that wages in Eastern Germany are still almost 30 percent lower than in Western Germany. According to the Federal Statistics Office, the average income of full-time employees in the East was EUR 13,300 lower than in the West in 2024 (EUR 50,625 compared to EUR 63,999). “Inner unity” has therefore been approached but not quite fully realised yet.
