The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 "old states" upon German reunification on 3 October 1990.
The new states, which were dissolved by the GDR government in 1952 and re-established in 1990, are Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The state of Berlin, the result of a merger between East and West Berlin, is usually not considered one of the new states although a number of its residents are former East Germans and some of its areas were in the former East Berlin. There have been 16 states in Germany since reunification.
Demographics
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former East German states experienced high rates of depopulation until around 2008. About 2,000 schools closed between 1989 and 2008, because of a demographic shift to a lower number of children. In 2006, the fertility rate in the new states (1.30) approached those in the old states (1.34) and in 2016 it was higher than in the old states (1.64 vs. 1.60 in the old states). In 2019, the new states had exactly the same fertility rate as the old states (both 1.56).
More children are born out of wedlock in the new states than in the old states. In the new states, 61% of births were from unmarried women compared to 27% in the old states in 2009. Both states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had the highest rates of birth outside wedlock at 64% each, followed by Brandenburg with 62%, Bavaria and Hesse at 26%, while the state of Baden-Württemberg had the lowest rate at 22%.
Demographic evolution Brandenburg had a population of 2,660,000 in 1989 and 2,531,071 in 2020. It has the second-lowest population density in Germany. In 1995, it was the only new state to experience population growth, aided by nearby Berlin.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania had a population of 1,970,000 in 1989 and 1,610,774 in 2020, with the lowest population density in Germany. The local Landtag held several inquiries on population trends after the opposition requested an annual report on the topic.
Saxony had a population of 5,003,000 in 1989, which fell to 4,056,094 in 2020. It remains the most populated among the five new states. The proportion of the population under 20 years of age fell from 24.6% in 1988 to 19.7% in 1999. Dresden and Leipzig are among the fastest-growing cities in Germany, both raising their population to over half a million inhabitants again.
Saxony-Anhalt had a population of 2,960,000 in 1989, which fell to 2,180,684 in 2020. The state has a long history of demographic decline: its current territory had a population of 4,100,000 in 1945. The emigration had already begun during the GDR years.
Thuringia had a population of 2,680,000 in 1989, which fell to 2,120,237 in 2020.
, the new states have 12.5 million people, about 15% of Germany's population, and slightly less than that of Bavaria.
Migration There are more migrants in former West Germany than in former East Germany. About 1.7 million people (or 12% of the population) had left the new states. A disproportionately high number of them were women under the age of 35. About 500,000 women under the age of 30 left for western Germany between 1993 and 2008. In some rural regions, the number of women between the ages of 20 and 30 dropped by more than 30 percent. After 2008, the net migration rate decreased significantly. In 2017, for the first time since German reunification, more people emigrated from the old states to the new states than vice versa. All of the new states have populations where 90-95% of people do not have a migrant background.
Religion
Irreligion is predominant in former East Germany. An exception is former West Berlin, which had a Christian plurality in 2016 (44.4% Christian and 43.5% unaffiliated). It also has a higher share of Muslims at 8.5%, compared to former East Berlin with only 1.5% self-declared Muslims as of 2016.
Eurostat's Eurobarometer survey in 2015, found that 27.0% of the adult population declared themselves as agnostics or non believer, while 34.1% declared themselves as atheists. Christians comprised 37.2% of the total population; by denomination, members of the Protestant Churches were 19.2%, members of other Christian denominations were 8.8%, Catholics were 7.1%, the Christian Orthodox were 2.1%.
An explanation for the atheism in the new states, popular in other states, is the aggressive state atheist policies of the former GDR government. However, the enforcement of atheism existed only for the first few years. After that, the state allowed churches to have a relatively high level of autonomy.
Another explanation could be the secularizing trend (the "Kulturkampf") dating back to the second half of the 19th century in Prussia and through the Weimar Republic which was strongest in the states of Thuringia and Saxony as well as the late arrival of Christianity to the region as opposed to southern Europe where it was the state religion from late antiquity.
Religion by state, 2016ProtestantsCatholicsNot religiousMuslimsOthersBrandenburg24.9%3.5%69.9%0.0%1.5% former East Berlin14.3%7.5%74.3%1.5%2.4% Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania24.9%3.9%70.0%0.3%0.9% Saxony27.6%4.0%66.9%0.3%1.1% Saxony-Anhalt18.8%5.1%74.7%0.3%1.2% Thuringia27.8%9.5%61.2%0.0%1.5%Total24.3%5.2%68.8%0.3%1.4%
Major cities
Federal capital State capital
RankCity Pop. 1950Pop. 1960Pop. 1970Pop. 1980Pop. 1990Pop. 2000Pop. 2010Pop. 2022Area [km2]Densityper km2Growth [%](2010–2022)surpassed100,000State(Bundesland) 1. Berlin 3,570,750 887,70 3.18 1747 Berlin 2. Dresden 585,446 328,31 11.93 1852 Saxony 3. Leipzig 600,609 297,36 14.86 1871 Saxony 4. Chemnitz 264,042 220,84 8.55 1883 Saxony 5. Halle 251,358 135,02 7.90 1890 Saxony-Anhalt 6. Magdeburg 249,597 200,99 7.79 1882 Saxony-Anhalt 7. Erfurt 227,342 269,14 10.9 1906 Thuringia 8. Rostock 216,466 181,26 6.8 1935 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 9. Potsdam 190,422 187,53 21.4 1939 BrandenburgTotal5,730,5235,643,1115,630,4455,541,4155,853,0035,622,0105,779,0616,156,0522,7082,1342.79RankCity Pop. 1950Pop. 1960Pop. 1970Pop. 1980Pop. 1990Pop. 2000Pop. 2010Pop. 2022Area [km2]Densityper km2Growth [%](2000–2010)surpassed100,000State(Land)
Economy
The economic reconstruction of eastern Germany () proved to be longer-term than originally foreseen. As of 2005, the standard of living and average annual income remained significantly lower in the new states.
The federal government spent €2 trillion to reunify and privatise 8,500 state-owned east German enterprises. Almost all East German industries were considered outdated at the time of reunification. Since 1990, amounts between €100 billion and €140 billion have been transferred to the new states annually. More than €60 billion were spent supporting businesses and building infrastructure in the years 2006–2008.
A €156 billion economic plan, Solidarity Pact II, was enforced in 2005 and provided the financial basis for the advancement and special promotion of the economy of the new states until 2019. The "solidarity tax", a 5.5% surcharge on the income tax, was implemented by the Kohl government to match the infrastructure of the new states to the levels of the western ones and to apportion the cost of unification and the expenses of both the Gulf War and European integration. The tax, which raises €11billion annually, was planned to remain in force until 2019.
Since reunification, the unemployment rate in the East has doubled that of the West. The unemployment rate reached 12.7% in April 2010, after reaching a maximum of 18.7% in 2005. As of 2020, the unemployment rates in the new states were lower than in some old states.
In the decade 1999–2009, economic activity per person rose from 67% to 71% of western Germany. Wolfgang Tiefensee, the minister then responsible for the development of the new states, said in 2009: "The gap is closing." The new states are also the part of the country that was least affected by the 2008 financial crisis.
Women in the eastern Germany are more likely to be employed full-time and reach higher positions in their career, and work longer hours. During the division of Germany, East German women were encouraged to seek full-time employment, housewives were derided as "parasites" (Schmarotzer); in contrast to West Germany, where tax and benefits system discouraged dual-earner families, so working mothers were seen in a negative light and derided as "raven mothers" (Rabenmutter). At the time of reunification, almost 90% of women in East Germany were in full-time employment, whilst only about 55% in West Germany. In addition, East German mothers tend to have children earlier in life and return to work after taking just one year of maternity leave (as was the standard in the former East Germany), whilst women from the Western states usually stay on maternity leave for the full 3 years until job protection ends.
All the new states qualify as Objective 1 development regions within the European Union and were eligible to receive investment subsidies of up to 30% until 2013.
Infrastructure The German Unity Transport Projects (, VDE) is a programme launched in 1991 that is intended to upgrade the infrastructure of eastern Germany and modernize transport links between the old and new states. It consists of nine railway projects, seven motorway projects, and one waterway project with a total budget of €38.5 billion. As of 2009, all 17 projects were under construction or have been completed. The construction of new railway lines and high-speed upgrades of existing lines reduced journey times between Berlin and Hanover from over four hours to 96 minutes. Multiple railway lines (branches and main lines) have been closed by the unified Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) because of increased car usage and depopulation. The VDE states that some main lines are still not finished or upgraded, with the Leipzig-Nuremberg line (via Erfurt and part of the Munich-Berlin route) scheduled to come on-line in December 2017, almost three decades after reunification.
Deutsche Einheit Fernstraßenplanungs- und -bau GmbH, (English: German Unity Road Construction Company; DEGES) is the state-owned project management institution responsible for the construction of approximately 1,360km of federal roads within the VDE with a total budget of €10.2 billion. It is also involved in other transport projects, including 435km of roads costing about €1,760 million as well as a city tunnel in Leipzig costing €685 million.
The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 includes plans to extend the A14 motorway from Magdeburg to Schwerin and to build the A72 from Chemnitz to Leipzig.
Private ownership rates of cars have increased since 1990: in 1988, 55% of East German households had at least one car; in 1993 it rose to 67% and 71% in 1998, compared to the West German rates of 61% in 1988, 74% in 1993, and 76% in 1998.Wilhelm Hinrichs: Die Ostdeutschen in Bewegung – Formen und Ausmaß regionaler Mobilität in den neuen Bundesländern (PDF-Dokument)
Culture
Persisting differences in culture and mentality among older East Germans and West Germans are often referred to as the "wall in the head" ("Mauer im Kopf"). Stereotypes exist, with Ossis ('Easties') portrayed as racist, poor and largely influenced by Russian culture, and Wessis ('Westies') as snobbish, dishonest, wealthy, and selfish. The terms can be considered to be disparaging.
In 2009, a poll found that 22% of former East Germans (40% under 25) considered themselves "real citizens of the Federal Republic"; 62% felt they were no longer citizens of East Germany, but not fully integrated into the unified Germany; and around 11% would have liked to have re-established East Germany. An earlier poll in 2004 found that 25% of West Germans and 12% of East Germans wished reunification had not happened.