Germany is the leader of the European economy, and its manufacturing industry is one of the brightest in the world!
Germany has a large number of world-renowned enterprises, such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Siemens, Bosch, etc., and the products are sold all over the world!
In 2022, Germany's total GDP will reach 4.07 trillion US dollars, and the per capita GDP will be 48,300 US dollars.
However, although Germany is a highly developed country, there are still regional uneven development within the country.
The general situation is that the western part of Germany is more developed than the eastern part of Germany in almost every way!
This is mainly due to the fact that West Germany ushered in a "golden age" in the fifties and sixties of the last century, and the economy began to develop rapidly. The prosperity of West Germany, looking at the whole of Western Europe, is unrivaled by any other country!
Differences in the distribution of companies in the east and west of Germany
East Germany, on the other hand, missed the opportunity for rapid development, and now more than 30 years after the merger of East and West Germany, East Germany has been struggling to catch up, but it is still not as prosperous as West Germany.
East Germany and West Germany are significantly different in terms of economy, education, politics, culture and sports and entertainment!
These distinctions shaped the different social landscapes of East and West Germany.
What are the differences between East Germany and West Germany? We can explore the following aspects.
Let's start with the economy with the biggest gap
When it comes to the gap between East and West Germany, the economy is the most important item that cannot be ignored.
The chart below shows the distribution of per capita GDP in East and West Germany, and it can be seen that although East Germany has been struggling to develop in the past 30 years, it is still worse than West Germany in terms of economic level.
These states in East Germany have some of the lowest economic indicators in terms of GDP per capita and disposable income.
The following chart shows the pension situation in each region of Germany, and the darker the color, the higher the pension. As you can see, West Germany is dark (over 1,250 euros), while East Germany (1,100~1,150 euros) is almost all light.
In addition, the regional economy can also be measured by the increase in housing prices. The chart below shows the real estate market in Germany, where prices in the redder East Germany are falling or flat, while in the greener West Germany, prices are mostly rising.
Therefore, in terms of GDP, pensions and housing prices, the western part of Germany has a clear advantage, while the eastern part lags far behind.
The economic differences between East and West Germany also led to different population densities between the two regions. As you can see from the population density map below, western Germany is significantly denser, darker and redder, after all, "people go to higher places"!
Currently, the population of eastern Germany is around 150 people per square kilometer and the western part of Germany is 260 people per square kilometer.
Religious differences, western Germany is more "green"
The West German region is more attractive to immigrants because of its more developed economy, more employment opportunities and better welfare.
At present, Germany is mainly accepting immigrants from Turkey and other countries, and most immigrants are concentrated in West Germany.
Because of the tendency of immigrants, most of the mosques in Germany are located in West Germany.
The green icons in the image below represent mosques, which are mostly concentrated in the West German region.
East Germany, on the other hand, gathered a large number of atheists and non-religious people, and because of the difference in beliefs, East and West Germany also disliked each other.
The West Germans felt that the east was poor, and the East Germans felt that the west was proud.
In terms of education, the west of Germany is ahead of the east in general
Differences in economic levels lead to uneven quality of education!
Because West Germany is more industrial, employable, and has a better future than East Germany, most of the young people in East Germany choose to develop in West Germany.
The loss of young people dealt a major blow to education in East Germany, increasing the dropout rate of school-age children.
The chart below shows the difference in dropout rates between the eastern and western parts of Germany.
As you can see, West Germany is almost all green and yellow, with a dropout rate of less than 7.5 percent, while East Germany is mostly blue, with several states having dropout rates of more than 10 percent!
Even sports are different
The differences between East and West Germany can be seen in various ways, in the case of football, in the German capital Berlin, East Berlin fans mostly support "Union Berlin Football Club", while West Berlin fans support "Hertha BSC".
In the chart below, the eastern part of Berlin is predominantly red (for Union Berlin), while the western and southwestern part of Berlin is predominantly blue (for Hertha BSC).
epilogue
Although East Germany is significantly weaker than West Germany in terms of current development, this does not mean that East Germany itself is not developing well.
Many people overlook the difference in size between East and West Germany.
East Germany was born to the detriment, with an area of one-third smaller than West Germany and a population of almost one-third smaller.
However, in the 70s, the total economic output of East Germany also reached 80% of that of West Germany!
Therefore, if we only look at the current data comparison and ignore the development achievements of East Germany before the merger, it will not truly reflect the differences between the east and the west of Germany.