As Germany celebrated its 36th anniversary of unification on the 3rd (local time), the daily Berliner Morgenpost reported that the income gap between East and West Germany is growing.
According to data from the Federal Statistical Office analyzed by this media outlet, the average annual disposable income per household in Berlin, which comprised the five former East German states and half of which was East Germany, was 42,259 euros (64,153,000 won), which was 7,247 euros (11,002,000 won) less than the 49,506 euros (75,155,000 won) in West Germany.
The income gap between East and West Germany has grown every year, including 6,979 euros (10.595 million won) in 2023 and 7,080 euros (10.74 million won) in the following year.
By state, Bavaria, a former West German region, had the highest at 53,067 euros (80,561,000 won), while Saxony-Anhalt, the former East German region, had the least with 38,284 euros (58,119,000 won). The income gap between the two regions reached 14,783 euros (22,442,000 won).
The Berliner Morgenpost interpreted that not only wages, but also differences in rental and capital income played a role in the widening economic gap between East and West Germany.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, 95% of asset transfers through inheritance and gifts last year took place in the former West Germany. Taking population differences into account, the amount in former West Germany exceeded 2,100 euros (approximately 3.19 million won) per person, more than four times that in former East Germany.
The lagging economy of the former East German region is serving as the biggest stepping stone for populist forces, such as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), to advance in these regions. In Saxony-Anhalt, which has the lowest income level in East Germany, the AfD achieved the highest score since its founding with 43.8% of the vote in the state legislature election held on the 6th of last month, defeating the centrist conservative Christian Democratic Party (CDU, 17.2%) and becoming the largest party.
Thomas Schulze, floor leader of the Saxony-Anhalt state legislature of the left-wing populist party 'Alliance for Social Justice and Economic Rationality' (BSW, formerly Saarwagen-Knecht Union), claimed, "As a result of the CDU leading the state government for 24 years, Saxony-Anhalt has become a poor region."
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was concerned about social division, saying that the country could follow the path of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), which ended with the Nazis taking power as extreme parties on the left and right grew stronger.
At the unification anniversary event held in Bremen on this day, President Steinmeier said, "It is not yet clear whether Germany will resemble the Weimar Republic. The denigration of democratic procedures, the radicalization of the public, and accusations of compromise - all of this should be taken as a warning."
He criticized extremist forces who use the East-West conflict as political firewood, saying, โThe unbearable political instigation of extremist forces that reveal their desire for destruction and ridicule and threaten others is threatening not only freedom and democracy but also our unity.โ
Germany marks its unification anniversary on October 3, 1990, when the five former East German states and East Berlin were incorporated into the Federal Republic, and commemoration events are held every year in the 16 federal states.
