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.
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Germany Population: East data was reported at 16,147.618 Person th in 2021. This records a decrease from the previous number of 16,163.795 Person th for 2020. Germany Population: East data is updated yearly, averaging 16,722.586 Person th from Dec 1950 (Median) to 2021, with 72 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 18,388.172 Person th in 1950 and a record low of 15,119.530 Person th in 2000. Germany Population: East data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Statistisches Bundesamt. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Germany – Table DE.G001: Population.
In 1800, the region of Germany was not a single, unified nation, but a collection of decentralized, independent states, bound together as part of the Holy Roman Empire. This empire was dissolved, however, in 1806, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras in Europe, and the German Confederation was established in 1815. Napoleonic reforms led to the abolition of serfdom, extension of voting rights to property-owners, and an overall increase in living standards. The population grew throughout the remainder of the century, as improvements in sanitation and medicine (namely, mandatory vaccination policies) saw child mortality rates fall in later decades. As Germany industrialized and the economy grew, so too did the argument for nationhood; calls for pan-Germanism (the unification of all German-speaking lands) grew more popular among the lower classes in the mid-1800s, especially following the revolutions of 1948-49. In contrast, industrialization and poor harvests also saw high unemployment in rural regions, which led to waves of mass migration, particularly to the U.S.. In 1886, the Austro-Prussian War united northern Germany under a new Confederation, while the remaining German states (excluding Austria and Switzerland) joined following the Franco-Prussian War in 1871; this established the German Empire, under the Prussian leadership of Emperor Wilhelm I and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. 1871 to 1945 - Unification to the Second World War The first decades of unification saw Germany rise to become one of Europe's strongest and most advanced nations, and challenge other world powers on an international scale, establishing colonies in Africa and the Pacific. These endeavors were cut short, however, when the Austro-Hungarian heir apparent was assassinated in Sarajevo; Germany promised a "blank check" of support for Austria's retaliation, who subsequently declared war on Serbia and set the First World War in motion. Viewed as the strongest of the Central Powers, Germany mobilized over 11 million men throughout the war, and its army fought in all theaters. As the war progressed, both the military and civilian populations grew increasingly weakened due to malnutrition, as Germany's resources became stretched. By the war's end in 1918, Germany suffered over 2 million civilian and military deaths due to conflict, and several hundred thousand more during the accompanying influenza pandemic. Mass displacement and the restructuring of Europe's borders through the Treaty of Versailles saw the population drop by several million more.
Reparations and economic mismanagement also financially crippled Germany and led to bitter indignation among many Germans in the interwar period; something that was exploited by Adolf Hitler on his rise to power. Reckless printing of money caused hyperinflation in 1923, when the currency became so worthless that basic items were priced at trillions of Marks; the introduction of the Rentenmark then stabilized the economy before the Great Depression of 1929 sent it back into dramatic decline. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi government disregarded the Treaty of Versailles' restrictions and Germany rose once more to become an emerging superpower. Hitler's desire for territorial expansion into eastern Europe and the creation of an ethnically-homogenous German empire then led to the invasion of Poland in 1939, which is considered the beginning of the Second World War in Europe. Again, almost every aspect of German life contributed to the war effort, and more than 13 million men were mobilized. After six years of war, and over seven million German deaths, the Axis powers were defeated and Germany was divided into four zones administered by France, the Soviet Union, the UK, and the U.S.. Mass displacement, shifting borders, and the relocation of peoples based on ethnicity also greatly affected the population during this time. 1945 to 2020 - Partition and Reunification In the late 1940s, cold war tensions led to two distinct states emerging in Germany; the Soviet-controlled east became the communist German Democratic Republic (DDR), and the three western zones merged to form the democratic Federal Republic of Germany. Additionally, Berlin was split in a similar fashion, although its location deep inside DDR territory created series of problems and opportunities for the those on either side. Life quickly changed depending on which side of the border one lived. Within a decade, rapid economic recovery saw West Germany become western Europe's strongest economy and a key international player. In the east, living standards were much lower, although unemployment was almost non-existent; internationally, East Germany was the strongest economy in the Eastern Bloc (after the USSR), though it eventually fell behind the West by the 1970s. The restriction of movement between the two states also led to labor shortages in t...
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Analysis of ‘Population in East German countries by age and sex’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from http://data.europa.eu/88u/dataset/https-www-datenportal-bmbf-de-portal-0-13 on 16 January 2022.
--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---
Table 0.13: Population in East German countries by age and sex
--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---
Following the Second World War, Germany was split into four territories, administered by France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. In 1949, the zones occupied by Britain, France and the US formed the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and the USSR zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The capital city of Berlin, which was located in East Germany, was also split into two parts, with West Berlin remaining in the Federal Republic of Germany and East Berlin belonging to the Soviet satellite state of the German Democratic Republic. Between 1949 and 1961, over 2.5 million people (mostly skilled laborers) emigrated from East to West Germany in search of economic opportunities and higher standard of living. Increasing restrictions In reaction to this imbalanced migration, the communist East German government increased restrictions on movement to the West, and, despite initial requests being denied by Nikita Khrushchev in 1953, the Soviet leader eventually approved the building of a physical barrier in 1961. Initially, a wire fence was used to separate the East from the West, and this was later reinforced with concrete walls, bunkers, guard towers and landmines, most notably in the case of the Berlin Wall, which became the symbol of German division during the Cold War. From the early 1960s until the late 1980s, migration from East to West Germany dropped significantly. In the 1970s, there was no year where more than 20,000 people moved from the East to West, which is a significant drop from the 1950s, where as many as 331,000 people migrated in 1953 alone. The fall of the iron curtain As the Soviet Union's power weaned in the 1980s, and their influence in Eastern Europe diminished, communism in the Eastern block and Soviet satellite states began to collapse at the end of the decade. On November 9, 1989, when an East German politician mistakenly claimed that restrictions on travel visas would be lifted with immediate effect, thousands of people in Berlin gathered at the checkpoints along the Berlin Wall demanding to be allowed through. As tensions rose, the commanding officers eventually gave in to public demands and opened the barriers, allowing the people to move freely again between both German states. In the days that followed, Germans from both sides of the barrier began to tear down and create holes in the Berlin Wall, in a symbolic act that would represent unity and the end of German division.
1941 marked an escalation of the Second World War in Europe. By the middle of the year, Germany and its European allies had already consolidated power across most of the continent, with only the United Kingdom and Soviet Union not under Axis control or on neutral terms with Germany. As population sizes were fundamental to the war effort, both in terms of military manpower and the workforce of the home front, the annexation of other countries proved vital in supplying new volunteers, conscripts, and forced laborers for the Axis war effort. Together, Germany and Austria had a similar population to the rest of Europe's Axis powers combined, with all giving a total population of 154 million. However, the total population of the Axis-occupied territories in Europe was comparable to the Axis home fronts themselves, at almost 130 million people
Germans in the East Eastern Europe had a sizeable population of ethnic Germans who often worked with the Axis powers, and the German Army recruited upwards of a million volunteers from occupied countries. The Soviet Union in particular had a number of Russia German enclaves across the region, that reached as far as the Volga river and Kazakhstan and numbered at several million people. In Russia, these communities had existed for centuries, but they were ostracized or mistrusted by Soviet leadership and the deaths of these communities under Stalin's regime is often considered genocide. In addition to ethnic Germans, collaborators also included large numbers of Eastern Europeans who sympathized with Nazi ideology, or were hostile to Soviet or communist expansion; this also included ethnic minorities, such as Muslims from the Balkans or USSR.
Collaborators in the West The perceived threat of communism in the west saw men volunteer from countries such as France, the Netherlands, or Norway, to fight in the Axis armies. The fluctuating borders of the interwar period also meant that there were many German communities across the borders of neighboring countries, whose men also enlisted in the Wehrmacht. Within these occupied countries, conspirators with local knowledge were used to track down Jews and political adversaries, and many collaborated in order to elevate their positions in the government or enterprises. Apart from Austria, however, the majority of the public in annexed territories were unsupportive or hostile to their occupiers, and after the war, many of the surviving collaborators were tried (and often executed) for their actions.
A wide-ranging representative longitudinal study of private households that permits researchers to track yearly changes in the health and economic well-being of older people relative to younger people in Germany from 1984 to the present. Every year, there were nearly 11,000 households, and more than 20,000 persons sampled by the fieldwork organization TNS Infratest Sozialforschung. The data provide information on all household members, consisting of Germans living in the Old and New German States, Foreigners, and recent Immigrants to Germany. The Panel was started in 1984. Some of the many topics include household composition, occupational biographies, employment, earnings, health and satisfaction indicators. In addition to standard demographic information, the GSOEP questionnaire also contains objective measuresuse of time, use of earnings, income, benefit payments, health, etc. and subjective measures - level of satisfaction with various aspects of life, hopes and fears, political involvement, etc. of the German population. The first wave, collected in 1984 in the western states of Germany, contains 5,921 households in two randomly sampled sub-groups: 1) German Sub-Sample: people in private households where the head of household was not of Turkish, Greek, Yugoslavian, Spanish, or Italian nationality; 2) Foreign Sub-Sample: people in private households where the head of household was of Turkish, Greek, Yugoslavian, Spanish, or Italian nationality. In each year since 1984, the GSOEP has attempted to re-interview original sample members unless they leave the country. A major expansion of the GSOEP was necessitated by German reunification. In June 1990, the GSOEP fielded a first wave of the eastern states of Germany. This sub-sample includes individuals in private households where the head of household was a citizen of the German Democratic Republic. The first wave contains 2,179 households. In 1994 and 1995, the GSOEP added a sample of immigrants to the western states of Germany from 522 households who arrived after 1984, which in 2006 included 360 households and 684 respondents. In 1998 a new refreshment sample of 1,067 households was selected from the population of private households. In 2000 a sample was drawn using essentially similar selection rules as the original German sub-sample and the 1998 refreshment sample with some modifications. The 2000 sample includes 6,052 households covering 10,890 individuals. Finally, in 2002, an overrepresentation of high-income households was added with 2,671 respondents from 1,224 households, of which 1,801 individuals (689 households) were still included in the year 2006. Data Availability: The data are available to researchers in Germany and abroad in SPSS, SAS, TDA, STATA, and ASCII format for immediate use. Extensive documentation in English and German is available online. The SOEP data are available in German and English, alone or in combination with data from other international panel surveys (e.g., the Cross-National Equivalent Files which contain panel data from Canada, Germany, and the United States). The public use file of the SOEP with anonymous microdata is provided free of charge (plus shipping costs) to universities and research centers. The individual SOEP datasets cannot be downloaded from the DIW Web site due to data protection regulations. Use of the data is subject to special regulations, and data privacy laws necessitate the signing of a data transfer contract with the DIW. The English Language Public Use Version of the GSOEP is distributed and administered by the Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Cornell University. The data are available on CD-ROM from Cornell for a fee. Full instructions for accessing GSOEP data may be accessed on the project website, http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/PAM/Research/Centers-Programs/German-Panel/cnef.cfm * Dates of Study: 1984-present * Study Features: Longitudinal, International * Sample Size: ** 1984: 12,290 (GSOEP West) ** 1990: 4,453 (GSOEP East) ** 2000: 20,000+ Links: * Cornell Project Website: http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/PAM/Research/Centers-Programs/German-Panel/cnef.cfm * GSOEP ICPSR: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/00131
This survey is now fully integrated in pairfam .
Complementary Study to the German Family Panel (pairfam)
Financed by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, DemoDiff is a longitudinal study that provides prospective and retrospective information for the analysis of family dynamics in eastern Germany. It mainly follows the concept and design of the nationwide German Family Panel study pairfam. Anchor respondents of the birth cohorts 1971-73 and 1981-83 from eastern Germany (excluding West Berlin and including East Berlin) and their partners are interviewed on an annual basis. Data from DemoDiff are distributed together with the scientific use file of the German Family Panel. Data access is supervised by the pairfam data research center.
The survey program of DemoDiff is broadly in compliance with the pairfam program. This multi-subject study focuses on aspects of partnership and family dynamics.
1.) Partnership formation and development 2.) Transition to first and consecutive births 3.) Intergenerational relationships 4.) Parenting and child development
Numerous issues from other life domains and demography are also gathered by the survey. Most of the instruments are utilized either annually in each survey wave (core modules) or are rotated every two or every three years (extended modules). In the main survey, the anchor persons report - among other things - retrospectively on changes related to their partnerships, children, residences, and educational and occupational career since the last wave (Event History Calendar). The questionnaires for partners are similar to the main survey in terms of topics but differ in length and content.
Topics:
1.) Partnership formation and development: Partnership biography since age 14 (sex and age of partners, partnership, cohabitation and marriage episodes by month); Getting to know each other (current partner); Institutionalization of partnership (plans, ambivalence, stages); Sexuality (sexual orientation, frequency of sexual intercourse, satisfaction with sex life); Cohabitation (dwelling, distance between places of residence); Division of household chores (several activities, fairness); Finances in partnership (bank accounts, living expenses); Quality of partnership (dyadic coping, NRI, conflict styles and behavior, satisfaction with relationship, subjective instability of partnership); Module for singles (satisfaction with situation as single, interest in partnership, desire for partnership, characteristics of the partner market, subjective chances, broad and in-depth exploration); Separation module (course of separation, problems in partnership, effects on children, emotional distress after separation, exposure with separation, custody and alimony arrangements).
2.) Transition to first and consecutive births: Expectations concerning life with children (value of children); Pregnancy (existence of pregnancy, tried to sire a child/get pregnant, infertility, procreation/measures inducing pregnancy, abortion/miscarriage, hypothetical social support in case of pregnancy); Contraception (use, methods, consistency of use); Social influences on family planning (by friends and parents); Fertility plans (ideal and realistic number of children, intention to become parent, timing of parenthood, agreement with partner, willingness to cut back for children, effects of being parent, parenthood decision making, reasons against children); Preconditions for parenthood (assessment of actual and target state).
3.) Intergenerational relationships: Expectations concerning the relationship to parents (value of parents); Familial norms; Family and partnership related values; Quality of parent-child-relationship (NRI); Dimensions of intergenerational relationships (frequency of contact, emotional closeness, travel-time distance); Given and received support (emotional, material, instrumental); Nursing (need for care parents, care provider); Leaving parents’ home (age).
4.) Parenting and child development: Child rearing goals; Parenting role (parental self-efficacy); Co-parenting (problems, problem solving); Child care (responsible persons, satisfaction with child care situation); Health of children (in general); Newborn module (delivery, checkups, temperament, unspecific strain).
Other life domains: Personality; Well-being (loneliness, self-worth, depressiveness, etc.); Health (general status, handicap, sleep at night); Importance of life domains (occupation, family, etc.); Satisfaction (with life, school/job, leisure activities, friends, family, financial situation); Network integration (number of friends, network generator); Religiosity (religious denomination, frequency of church visits).
Demography: Sex; Age; Marital status; Country of birth and nationality; Number of siblings and relatives; Education (education career, educational attainment); Employment biography (employment episodes, occupation, occupational status); Employment situation...
Currently, the German population amounts to around 84.04 million. This number is predicted to rise in the following years, at least until 2025, after which population numbers will decrease, amounting to 80.67 million people by 2045.
The study on young people in East and West was conducted by Verian on behalf of the Federal Press Office. In the survey period from 02.04.2024 to 17.04.2024, the German-speaking population between the ages of 14 and 24 was surveyed in online interviews (CAWI) on the following topics: life goals and values, political attitudes, future prospects and expectations. The respondents were selected using a quota sample from an online access panel (oversampling of East Germans - 517 respondents in the East and 811 in the West, equalization weighting for the overall sample).
1. Life satisfaction, social environment: general life satisfaction; life satisfaction with regard to various aspects (financial situation, housing situation, family situation, career prospects and old-age provision); ranking of the most important reference persons or reference groups (partner, friends, parents and siblings, other relatives, (school or university) teachers, trainers, coaches, celebrities, influencers on social media, athletes, others (open, coded answers: Club members/ community members, colleagues/ classmates/ fellow students, acquaintances, neighbors, social workers, therapists).
Future prospects and expectations: self-assessment of personal future prospects; future prospects with regard to selected areas (financial situation, housing situation, family situation, career prospects and retirement provision); future prospects in the aforementioned areas compared to parents; assessment of the future prospects of their own generation in Germany; most important and second most important political issue in Germany; rather confident/worried about developments in Germany in various areas (economic development, social security, social cohesion, cost of living, digitalization, transport infrastructure, healthcare, climate protection, immigration to Germany, external security and peace).
Values: life goals (self-realization, being free and independent, enjoying life, career, being there for others, taking responsibility, being assertive, being tolerant, living health-consciously, living environmentally consciously and sustainably, being financially secure, being able to afford nice things, being respected by others, not having to conform, consuming responsibly, none of the above); importance of various aspects for pursuing a (future) profession (secure job, adequate income, (interesting) work that is fun, compatibility of private life and career (work-life balance), career opportunities, being given responsibility/being allowed to make decisions, further training and development opportunities); career aspirations (open, coded); relocation from home; reasons for relocation; relocation plans; reasons for planned relocation; destination (back to home town, to a (different) town in West Germany, to a (different) town in East Germany, to a (different) rural region in East Germany, to a (different) rural region in West Germany, abroad, don´t know yet); attachment (identification) with the municipality/town, the federal state, West Germany/East Germany, the place of childhood, Germany and Europe; agreement with various statements about East and West Germany (it makes sense that there is a commissioner for East Germany in the federal government, West Germans often look down on East Germans, East Germans often feel like second-class citizens, young people have many future opportunities in East Germany, young people have many future opportunities in West Germany, there are no greater differences between West and East Germans than between North and South Germans, for example).
Information and communication: interest in politics; points of contact with politics in everyday life (frequency): at work, at school or university, in personal conversations with friends/family, when using social media, in leisure time/hobbies, in public spaces, in everyday media consumption; agreement vs. disagreement in political conversations with family and friends on selected topics (immigration and migration, climate protection, the war in Ukraine, gender-sensitive language, taking on new national debt and Middle East conflict); frequency of information about politics and political topics; media use: most frequently used sources of information about politics (e.g. news programs on television such as heute-journal or RTLaktuell, talk shows on television such as Anne Will or Hart aber Fair, websites of public institutions and authorities, satirical television programs such as ZDF Magazin Royale or Late Night Berlin, etc.); credibility of information from various actors (news and information from journalists, information on the internet from celebrities or influencers, information on the internet from “normal people” who are not personally known, speeches and contributions from politicians, opinions from family members, friends and acquaintances, information from the federal government).
Political attitudes: willingness to participate in the following...
The study on living conditions in East and West Germany was conducted by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen Telefonfeld on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government. During the survey period 05.07.2023 to 25.07.2022, eligible voters in Germany aged 18 and over were asked in telephone interviews (CATI) about the following topics: living conditions in East and West Germany as well as the relationship of the respective sections of the population to politics and trust in institutions. The survey examines how the sense of identity differs in East and West and how strongly East and West Germans feel their interests and experiences are represented in politics and society. It also looks at the assessment of living conditions, especially in the areas of infrastructure, mobility, health care, social participation and life in the city and in the countryside. The respondents were selected by means of a multi-stage random sample according to the RDD method, including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample).
Predominance of differences or similarities with regard to East and West Germany as well as North and South Germany; satisfaction with democracy; democracy as the best form of government; opinion on social justice in Germany; trust in institutions (courts, science and research, churches, police, federal government, politicians, parties and media); interest in politics; strength of conflicts between different social groups (rich and poor, employers and employees, young and old, foreigners and Germans, East Germans and West Germans, women and men); strength of conflicts between supporters of Corona vaccination and opponents of vaccination and between left-wing political forces and right-wing political forces; assessment of the situation in various areas in one´s own region (road conditions, provision of public transport, fast internet and doctors, shopping facilities for daily needs, wages and salaries, childcare facilities in after-school and day-care centres, cultural and recreational opportunities, jobs on offer, economic situation of people in the region as a whole); life satisfaction; optimism about the future; assessment of one´s own economic situation; East Germans are now better or worse off than West Germans; political conditions today better or worse than in the Federal Republic before reunification (West Germans aged 45 and over); political conditions today better or worse than in the GDR before reunification (East Germans aged 45 and over); assessment of social security and own economic situation compared to then (respondents aged 45 and over); identity as a German, West German or as an East German; assessment of the relationship between East Germans and West Germans; relationship between East Germans and West Germans tended to get better or tended to get worse in recent years; greatest injustices for both East Germany and West Germany; agreement with various statements (East Germans are still second-class citizens, East Germans do not recognise what a great contribution West Germans have made to the reconstruction of East Germany, West Germans are not interested in the problems in East Germany); feeling of personal representation of interests in politics, in the media as well as by various interest groups; personal sense of justice; attitude towards political influence (politicians can promise whatever they want, I don´t believe them, for me there are more important things to do than to care about politics, people like me have no influence on the politics of our country anyway, politicians care about the welfare of our country); behaviour of politicians: Politicians should stick to their opinion once it has been expressed or adjust their opinion once in a while in case of new insights and situations; politicians should always orientate themselves on the opinion of the majority of the population or on their conscience; opinion on meetings of politicians with business representatives (rather good because the business representatives can advise the politicians or rather bad because they have too much influence this way); party preference.
Demography: sex; age; education: school-leaving qualification or intended school-leaving qualification; university degree; occupation; job security; professional position; simple, higher or managerial occupation (employee); occupation in simple, middle, higher or higher service; household size; number of persons in the household aged 18 and over.
Additionally coded were: Respondent ID; federal state; Berlin district of residence (formerly West/East Berlin); city size; sample frame (reached via mobile or landline); weighting factors.
This statistic shows the degree of urbanization in Germany from 2013 to 2023. Urbanization means the share of urban population in the total population of a country. In 2023, 77.77 percent of Germany's total population lived in urban areas and cities. Urbanization in Germany Currently, about three quarter of the German population live in urban areas and cities, which is more than in most nations around the world. Urbanization, as it can be seen in this graph, refers to the number of people living in an urban area and has nothing to do with the actual geographical size or footprint of an area or country. A country which is significantly bigger than Germany could have a similar degree of urbanization, just because not all areas in the country are inhabitable, for example. One example for this is Russia, where urbanization has reached comparable figures to Germany, even though its geographical size is significantly bigger. However, Germany’s level of urbanization does not make the list of the top 30 most urbanized nations in the world, where urbanization rates are higher than 83 percent. Also, while 25 percent of the population in Germany still lives in rural areas, rural livelihoods are not dependent on agriculture, as only 0.75 percent of GDP came from the agricultural sector in 2014. So while Germany's urbanization rate is growing, a significant percentage of the population is still living in rural areas. Furthermore, Germany has a number of shrinking cities which are located to the east and in older industrial regions around the country. Considering that population growth in Germany is on the decline, because of low fertility rates, and that a number of cities are shrinking, the urban population is likely shifting to bigger cities which have more economic opportunities than smaller ones.
The World Values Survey (www.worldvaluessurvey.org) is a global network of social scientists studying changing values and their impact on social and political life, led by an international team of scholars, with the WVS association and secretariat headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The survey, which started in 1981, seeks to use the most rigorous, high-quality research designs in each country. The WVS consists of nationally representative surveys conducted in almost 100 countries which contain almost 90 percent of the world’s population, using a common questionnaire. The WVS is the largest non-commercial, cross-national, time series investigation of human beliefs and values ever executed, currently including interviews with almost 400,000 respondents. Moreover the WVS is the only academic study covering the full range of global variations, from very poor to very rich countries, in all of the world’s major cultural zones. The WVS seeks to help scientists and policy makers understand changes in the beliefs, values and motivations of people throughout the world. Thousands of political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, anthropologists and economists have used these data to analyze such topics as economic development, democratization, religion, gender equality, social capital, and subjective well-being. These data have also been widely used by government officials, journalists and students, and groups at the World Bank have analyzed the linkages between cultural factors and economic development.
This survey covers East and West Germany.
The WVS for Germany covers East and West Germany national population, aged 18 years and over, for both sexes.
Sample survey data [ssd]
East Germany Sampling Procedure:
The sample was designed to be representative of the entire adult population, i.e. 18 years and older, of your country. The lower age cut-off for the sample was 18 and there was not any upper age cut-off for the sample. Population: Total non-institutionalized population of East-Germany, 18 years and older. Four-stage area probability sample: (1) East Germany is divided into strata. For each stratum the desired number of respondents is defined proportionally to population size. (2) Within each stratum the primary sampling units (communities) are selected at random, proportionally to size. (3) Within each primary sampling unit secondary sampling units (mail-code-areas) are randomly selected. The total number of secondary sampling units was 101. (4) Within each secondary sampling unit households as third sampling units are selected at random from the Telekom phoneregister on CD-ROM (D-Info 3.0). (5) Within each household respondent are randomly selected by phone using the (last) birthday method (fourth sampling unit). Selection is done: 46% Male and 54% Female. 86% Urban and 14% Rural. The sample size is N=1009.
Remarks about sampling: - Final numbers of clusters or sampling points: 101 - Sample unit from office sampling: Household
West Germany Sampling Procedure:
The sample was designed to be representative of the entire adult population, i.e. 18 years and older, of your country. The lower age cut-off for the sample was 18 and there was not an upper age cut-off for the sample. Population: Total non-institutionalized population of Germany, 18 years and older. Four stage area probability sample: (1) West Germany is divided into strata. For each stratum the desired number of respondents is defined proportionally to population size. (2) Within each stratum the primary sampling units (communities) are selected at random, proportional to size. (3) Within each primary sampling unit secondary sampling units (mail-code-areas) are randomly selected. The total number of secondary sampling units was 99. (4) Within each secondary sampling unit households as third sampling units are selected at random from the Telekom phone-register on CDROM (D-Info 3.0). (5) Within each household respondents are randomly selected by phone using the (last) birthday method (fourth sampling unit). Selection is done: 46% Male and 54% Female. 91% Urban and 9% Rural. The sample size is N=1017.
Remarks about sampling: - Final numbers of clusters or sampling points: 99 - Sample unit from office sampling: Household
Face-to-face [f2f]
East Germany Questionnaire: The WVS questionnaire was in German. Some special variable labels have been included such as: V56 Neighbours: Muslims and V149 Institution: The European Union. Special categories labels are: V167 Least liked groups: 1. Turks; V179: Other Christian Community; V203/ V204: Geographical affinity, 1. Locality or town where you live, 2. Region of country where you live, 3. Own country as a whole, 4. Europe, 5. The world as whole. Country Specific variables included are: V209: Language at home: 2. English, 3. Dutch, 4. Polish, 5. Russian, 6. Turkish and 7. Other. The variables political parties V210 a V212; Ethic group: V 233 and Region: V 234 are also included as country specific variables. The V 206 Born is also different in East Germany.
West Germany Questionnaire: The WVS questionnaire was in German. Some special variable labels have been included such as: V56 Neighbours: Muslims and V149 Institution: The European Union. Special categories labels are: V167 Least liked groups: Turks and V203/ V204: Geographical affinity, 1. Locality or town where you live, 2. Region of country where you live, 3. Own country as a whole, 4. Europe, 5. The world as whole. Country Specific variables included are: V209: Language at home: 2. English, 3. Dutch, 4. Polish, 5. Russian, 6. Turkish, 7. Other. The variables political parties V210 a V212; Ethic group: V 233 and Region: V 234 are also included as country specific variables. The V 206 Born in this country is also different in West Germany.
East Germany: The response rate for East Germany is 51% and is caluculated as follows: (1009/1977) x 100=51%
West Germany: The response rate for West Germany is 50.2% and is calculated as follows: (1017/2025) x 100= 50.2 %
East Germany sampling error: +/- 3,1%
West Germany sampling error: +/-3,1%
Display service for the record from https://www.deutschlandatlas.bund.de : Averaged population growth between 2015 and 2020 per year in %. The population development reflects both the number of migrations and the natural population change due to the births and deaths of a municipality. It is striking that municipalities in West German federal states experienced a population increase between 2015 and 2020, whereas municipalities in East German federal states mainly recorded declining population figures.
https://dbk.gesis.org/dbksearch/sdesc2.asp?no=8267https://dbk.gesis.org/dbksearch/sdesc2.asp?no=8267
Timeseries of structure and development of the former German Democratic Republic’s population.
The aim of this data-collection is to inform about the population’s structure and development in the former GDR, including East-Berlin, from 1946 to 1989.
The Politbarometer has been conducted since 1977 on an almost monthly basis by the Forschungsgruppe Wahlen on behalf of the Second German Television (ZDF). Since 1990, this database has also been available for the new German states. The survey focuses on the opinions and attitudes of the voting-age population in the Federal Republic on current political issues, parties, politicians, and voting behavior. From 1990 to 1995 and from 1999 onward, the Politbarometer surveys were conducted separately both in the newly formed eastern and in the western German states (Politbarometer East and Politbarometer West). The separate monthly surveys of a year are integrated into a cumulative data set that includes all surveys of a year and all variables of the respective year. Starting in 2003, the Politbarometer short surveys, collected with varying frequency throughout the year, are integrated into the annual cumulation.
Most important problems in Germany; party preference (Federal
Parliament election, state parliament election, Sunday question and
rank order procedure); behavior at the polls in the last Federal
Parliament election and the last state parliament election; sympathy
scale for the parties, coalition, opposition, state government and
selected federal politicians; self-classification on a left-right
continuum; personal job security; ability of the government or
opposition in solving economic problems in Eastern Germany; judgement
on individual as well as current economic situation in Eastern Germany
and its further development; union membership; religiousness; party
inclination and party identification; living together with a partner.
Also encoded was: day of survey. Beyond this common part for all survey
months of the year 1993 the following questions were also posed in at
least one further survey month: assessment of disagreement of the
federal parties; most important politicians in the country; preference
for federal chancellor; satisfaction with democracy; the right people
in leading positions; interest in politics; general judgement on the
condition of society as well as comparison with other western
societies; judgement on introduction of political order according to
western pattern; general judgement on unification of Germany and
personal expectations fulfilled in unification; general judgement on
economic development in Germany; desire for separation of the two
German nations; satisfaction with achievement of equivalent living
conditions in east and west; adequate activities of the Federal
Government for such an equalization; adequate effort of the West German
economy and East German population to develop Eastern Germany; too much
complaining in public opinion; judgement on the job of the
trust-company; ability of the government or opposition regarding
stability of monetary value, national debt and securing of prosperity;
perceived threat from crime; necessity of tax increases to finance
German unity; attitude to reintroduction of the solidarity tax and
preferred point in time for this; attitude to reduction in social
services and to a job market tax for civil servants, self-employed and
higher earners; preferred savings recommendations for social services;
judgement on the reductions introduced by the Federal Government in the
social area; assumed extent of abuse of social services; expected
result of the government program to combat abuse; attitude to the sale
of government assets to avoid tax increases; judgement on disputes in
important questions; advantageousness of EC membership for the German
population; judgement on the speed of European unification and
preference for strengthening bonds between current EC countries or for
admission of new countries; preference for independence of Germany or
stronger merger into a European nation; advantageousness of the
European domestic market and attitude to a European currency; personal
voting behavior in case of a vote on the resolutions of Maastricht;
preferred countries for new acceptance into the EC; too many foreigners
in Germany; general judgement on German right to asylum; assumed abuse
of the right to asylum; necessity of an ammendment to the constitution
to reduce abuse of the right to asylum; ability to cope with current
influx of applicants for political asylum; party most able to solve the
problem of applicants for asylum; attitude to immediate deportation of
applicants for political asylum from countries in which there is no
political persecution; expected changes through change to the right to
asylum; proximity to accomodations for applicants for political asylum;
problems experienced with applicants for political asylum; attitude to
increased or reduced admission of applicants for political asylum;
understanding for the violent demonstrations against applicants for
political asylum; being ashamed of this violence; necessity of stricter
laws to combat right-wing extremism; dedicated supporters or protest
voters in the elections; increase...
In 1938, the year before the outbreak of the Second world War, the countries with the largest populations were China, the Soviet Union, and the United States, although the United Kingdom had the largest overall population when it's colonies, dominions, and metropole are combined. Alongside France, these were the five Allied "Great Powers" that emerged victorious from the Second World War. The Axis Powers in the war were led by Germany and Japan in their respective theaters, and their smaller populations were decisive factors in their defeat. Manpower as a resource In the context of the Second World War, a country or territory's population played a vital role in its ability to wage war on such a large scale. Not only were armies able to call upon their people to fight in the war and replenish their forces, but war economies were also dependent on their workforce being able to meet the agricultural, manufacturing, and logistical demands of the war. For the Axis powers, invasions and the annexation of territories were often motivated by the fact that it granted access to valuable resources that would further their own war effort - millions of people living in occupied territories were then forced to gather these resources, or forcibly transported to work in manufacturing in other Axis territories. Similarly, colonial powers were able to use resources taken from their territories to supply their armies, however this often had devastating consequences for the regions from which food was redirected, contributing to numerous food shortages and famines across Africa, Asia, and Europe. Men from annexed or colonized territories were also used in the armies of the war's Great Powers, and in the Axis armies especially. This meant that soldiers often fought alongside their former-enemies. Aftermath The Second World War was the costliest in human history, resulting in the deaths of between 70 and 85 million people. Due to the turmoil and destruction of the war, accurate records for death tolls generally do not exist, therefore pre-war populations (in combination with other statistics), are used to estimate death tolls. The Soviet Union is believed to have lost the largest amount of people during the war, suffering approximately 24 million fatalities by 1945, followed by China at around 20 million people. The Soviet death toll is equal to approximately 14 percent of its pre-war population - the countries with the highest relative death tolls in the war are found in Eastern Europe, due to the intensity of the conflict and the systematic genocide committed in the region during the war.
https://www.gesis.org/en/institute/data-usage-termshttps://www.gesis.org/en/institute/data-usage-terms
How do people living in contemporary Germany react to diversification in their every- day life? What undergirds pro-diversity perspectives among those who live in rapidly diversifying cities? Conversely, what are their limits, and what groups are excluded? The Diversity Assent (DivA) project was designed to understand the foundations and mechanisms underlying the acceptance of socio-demographic heterogeneity on multiple dimensions in cities located both in West and East Germany. Two core motivations underlie the project. So far, we insufficiently understand what motivates those who oppose right- wing positions – usually a majority among inhabitants of cities in Germany and other Western European countries. Second, this project builds on a previous large-scale project of the Socio-Cultural Diversity department at MPI-MMG, “Diversity and Contact”. In particular, it explores to what extent attitudes and patterns of interaction have changed, or remained constant, in the decade from 2010 to 2020, which was a time of major ruptures and political polarization. We designed a large telephone survey of 2,917 respondents asking a set of interrelated questions on dispositions towards diversity, everyday experiences and diversification dynamics. This includes a set of survey experiments designed to tap and measure social norms of tolerance.
The Germany Monitor is an annual survey with the aim of empirically surveying the development of political and social moods and attitudes of the population nationwide. Each year, a new annual focus is set. A nationwide main survey and a regional in-depth survey are carried out. In the regional in-depth survey, only people in pre-selected districts are interviewed. These surveys are available in separate data sets.
The main survey of the Germany Monitor ´24 was conducted by the opinion research institute forsa on behalf of the Zentrum für Sozialforschung Halle e.V. (Halle Social Research Center). In the survey period 18.04.2024 - 24.05.2024, the German-speaking resident population aged 16 and over was surveyed in telephone interviews (CATI). The focus in 2024 was on “What kind of society do we want to live in?”. Central topics include social goals, the importance and perceived fulfillment of central civil liberties and ideas of a just or unjust society. Furthermore, established attitudinal concepts, including satisfaction with democracy, trust in institutions and populism, as well as socio-demographic characteristics are also surveyed in the current wave. Respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample from an ADM selection frame including landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample) in a ratio of 70:30. 3,986 telephone interviews were conducted in total.
Opinion on general state responsibility for life risks such as illness or unemployment; solidarity with Germany as a whole, with East Germany, with West Germany; importance of civil liberties (freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, freedom of the press, freedom to demonstrate, freedom of property and the right to strike); assessment of the implementation of individual civil liberties; agreement with various statements on the restriction of civil liberties (religious symbols such as the headscarf or the cross should be banned in public buildings and schools, stricter regulation of social media such as Facebook, TikTok or Telegram threatens freedom of expression, freedom of the press must have its limits where people are insulted or slandered, freedom of assembly and demonstration must have its limits where people are hindered in their everyday lives, large private housing companies should be able to be nationalized, even if this affects freedom of ownership, the right to strike must have its limits where important areas of public transport infrastructure are affected, e.g. in the rail and aviation sectors); satisfaction with democracy in Germany according to the constitution; satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in Germany; attitude towards the idea of democracy; discrimination: Importance of reducing discrimination on various grounds (migration background, gender; age, poverty, religion or belief, political attitude or outlook, East German origin); assessment of current economic situation in Germany as a whole and in place of residence, as well as own economic situation; Extremism (In the national interest, a dictatorship is the better form of government under certain circumstances, What Germany needs now is a single strong party that embodies the national community as a whole, We should have a leader who rules Germany with a strong hand for the good of all, As in nature, the strongest should always prevail in society, Those who have always lived here should have more rights than those who moved here later); ideas of a just society (open answers recoded into categories, e.g. freedom and personal rights, equality and equal opportunities in general, social justice and support, etc.); split: ideas of an unjust society (open responses recoded into categories, e.g. social inequality and wealth distribution, pensions and poverty in old age, dysfunctional migration and integration, etc.); priority of climate protection vs. economic growth; priority of freedom vs. equality; priority of freedom vs. security; preferences with regard to more or less government spending on certain areas (targeted recruitment of qualified specialists and trainees from abroad, strengthening of structurally weak regions, subsidies for the establishment of large companies, improvement of roads, improvement of railroad infrastructure, improvement of educational infrastructure (schools, kindergartens, universities), strengthening of police and law enforcement, strengthening of the Bundeswehr); politicians strive for close contact with the population (responsiveness); party identification (general and party); political interest; populism (members of the German Bundestag should be exclusively committed to the will of the people, the people agree in principle on what needs to happen politically, politicians talk too much and do too little, an ordinary citizen would represent my interests better than a professional politician, what is called compromise in politics is in reality just a betrayal of principles, the people, and not the politicians, should make...
The Germany Monitor is an annual survey with the aim of empirically surveying the stability and changes in political and social moods and attitudes of the population in East and West Germany. Each year, a new annual focus is set. A main survey (nationwide) and a regional in-depth survey are carried out. The latter includes pre-selected districts. These surveys are available in separate data sets.
The Deutschland-Monitor ´23 regional survey was conducted by the opinion research institute forsa on behalf of the Zentrum für Sozialforschung Halle e.V.. During the survey period from 03.07.23 to 28.07.23, the German-speaking resident population aged 16 and over was interviewed by telephone (CATI) in a total of eight districts. At least 500 respondents from the population were to be interviewed in each district. The focus in 2023 was on ´urban and rural areas´. In addition to socio-demographic and political attitudes, regional issues were also addressed. This included the coexistence of people, the challenges and strengths of the place of residence, the socialization of the respondent and attachment to the place of residence. Respondents were selected using a multi-stage random sample from an ADM selection frame, excluding mobile phone numbers. A total of 4,018 telephone interviews were conducted.
Life satisfaction; affiliation to Germany as a whole, to East Germany, to West Germany, to the federal state and to the place of residence; assessment of the economic situation in Germany as a whole, in East Germany, in West Germany, in the federal state and in the place of residence as well as of one´s own economic situation; migration is necessary to meet the demand for qualified skilled workers; year since moving to the current place of residence; perceived development of the place of residence in the last 10 to 15 years; expected development of the place of residence in the next 10 to 15 years; sociality index where I live (People here help each other, you can trust the people here, people here motivate each other to achieve something, the interaction between young and old works well here, my town/municipality involves citizens in municipal planning, my town/municipality uses public funds responsibly, there is a lively club life in my place of residence, I am generally satisfied with the quality of life in my place of residence, I am generally satisfied with the quality of life in my immediate neighborhood, I would not want to live anywhere else, I have a positive view of my personal future in the place where I currently live); challenges in the place of residence (integration of people from other countries, emigration of young people, lack of skilled workers, availability of affordable housing, increasing contrast between rich and poor, indebtedness of the place of residence); greatest challenge for the place of residence (open question); characterization of the place of residence using pairs of opposites (rural - urban, traditional - cosmopolitan, wealthy - poor, central - remote, family-friendly - family-unfriendly, attractive place to live - not an attractive place to live); satisfaction with the infrastructure in the place of residence (provision of fast internet, provision of public transport, availability of childcare facilities, provision of general practitioners, availability of care services, accessibility of specialists, accessibility of cultural and leisure facilities and accessibility of shopping facilities for daily needs); regional resentment (feeling of being left behind): Politicians in Berlin are not interested in the region where I live, people in the rest of Germany do not respect how people live here in our region, politicians in Berlin have done too little to improve the economic situation in my region, my region has developed worse economically than other regions in Germany, compared to other regions in Germany, the condition of public buildings in my region is very good); interest in politics; responsiveness: Politicians strive to maintain close contact with the population; populism (Members of the German Bundestag should be exclusively committed to the will of the people, the rulers and powerful in our society act against the interests of ordinary people, the people agree in principle on what needs to happen politically, decisions made after a debate in parliament are better than decisions made directly by the people); internal efficacy (I can understand and assess important political issues well); attitude towards the idea of democracy; satisfaction with democracy in Germany according to the constitution; satisfaction with the functioning of democracy in Germany; general party identification; party identification: party; political positioning (right-left); political participation in the last 12 months (involvement in a political party, political content shared, posted, e.g. on Facebook, in a blog, via Twitter, etc.); extremism (every democratic society has certain conflicts that...
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.