Chart and table of population level and growth rate for the Bonn, Germany metro area from 1950 to 2025. United Nations population projections are also included through the year 2035.

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, Germany was split into four zones, each administered by France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union respectively. In 1949, the Soviet-controlled zone formed the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), while the rest became the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). In this time, Berlin was also split into four zones, and the three non-Soviet zones formed West Berlin, which was a part of West Germany (although the West's administrative capital was moved to Bonn). One population grows, while the other declines Between 1949 and 1961, an estimated 2.7 million people migrated from East to West Germany. East Germany had a communist government with a socialist economy and was a satellite state of the Soviet Union, whereas West Germany was a liberal democracy with a capitalist economy, and western autonomy increased over time. Because of this difference, West Germany was a much freer society with more economic opportunities. During the German partition, the population of the west grew, from 51 million in 1950 to 62.7 million in 1989, whereas the population of East Germany declined from 18.4 million to just 16.4 million during this time. Little change after reunification In 1989, after four decades of separation, the process of German reunification began. The legal and physical barriers that had split the country were removed, and Germans could freely travel within the entire country. Despite this development, population growth patterns did not change. The population of the 'new states' (East Germany) continued to decline, whereas the population of the west grew, particularly in the 1990s, the first decade after reunification. The reasons for this continued imbalance between German population in the east and west, is mostly due to a low birth rate and internal migration within Germany. Despite the fact that levels of income and unemployment in the new states have gotten closer to those reported for the west (a major obstacle after reunification), life and opportunities in the west continue to attract young Germans from rural areas in the east with detrimental effect on the economy and demography of the new states.

Regional election study and factors of one´s own voting decision. Political attitudes and evaluation of parties and politicians, viewed at both local and federal level.

Topics: evaluation of the most important political events of the last year; political interest; most important tasks of the FRG and perceived possibilities of personal contribution to problem solution; degree of familiarity and frequency of use of local and national daily newspapers; personal election participation; party identification and party preference; most preferred party at place of residence; assessment of the influence of neighbors, colleagues, the family and the circle of friends on one´s own voting decision; good and bad sides of the parties; length of local residency and local ties; satisfaction with place of residence; city size and preferred size of city of residence; residential status and preferred residential status; satisfaction with housing conditions; rank order of the criteria for the assignment of social prestige in effect at place of residence, in general for the FRG and personally preferred; currently most important political tasks at place of residence and personal opportunities to contribute to problem solution; expected chances for success of personal political activity; issue ability of the parties to solve the problems at place of residence; personal impact of the territory reform (municipal reorganization); attitude to territory reform and expected advantages and disadvantages; degree of familiarity of local politicians and their achievements as well as their party affiliation; personal voting decision oriented to person or party; differences between CDU and SPD at local level and at federal level; assignment of parties to social groups and personal group affiliation; sympathy scale for SPD, CDU, CSU, FDP, NPD and DKP; memberships and intensity of participation in events; offices accepted; self-assessment of social class and assumed personal standing at place of residence as well as assessment of the social class of father (scale); judgement on the economic situation and the economic development of the FRG; satisfaction with place of work; preferred place of work; location of the job at place of residence.

Demography: age; sex; marital status; religious denomination; religiousness; frequency of church attendance; school education; occupational position; employment; the route to work; number of recipients of income; household income; household size; household composition; characteristics of head of household.

Interviewer rating: interest of respondent in interview; length of interview; date of interview.

Also encoded were the following regional data at the level of municipal districts or parts of town: election turnout; vote distribution; population level in 1961 and 1970; resident density; proportion of men and proportion of foreigners; residential population with another residence; marital status; average size of household; religion and age structure; sources of livelihood; training level; sector of employment; occupational position; telephone density.