Commissioner for Eastern Germany releases annual report: The wealth gap between East and West Germany and the underrepresentation of elites have become the focus

On Wednesday, Elisabeth Kaiser received special media attention in Germany. As the Eastern Affairs Commissioner of the German federal government, she has been interviewed by the media one after another. The reason is that she just released the 2026 annual report at a press conference not long ago. This report, like previous years, lists a large amount of data and compares eastern Germany with western Germany.

Not surprisingly, gaps remain stark on some important indicators: residents in the east have lower average incomes, receive smaller pensions and own fewer properties and other assets.

Therefore, Kaiser, who was born in the former East Germany in 1987, three years before German reunification, spent a lot of time talking about the wealth gap between East Germany and West Germany.

She pointed out that for decades, opportunities for private entrepreneurship and accumulation of personal and family wealth have been restricted: "As a result, East German families have been able to accumulate and pass on significantly less wealth." This also means that East German families can leave relatively little inheritance to the next generation. For Kaiser, who is from Gera in Thuringia, these questions are linked to a larger issue: What are one's chances for upward social and economic mobility?

How important are connections and origins?

To Kaiser, the problem didn't seem to be limited to East Germany. She mentioned the Deutschland-Monitor, which she commissioned. The survey is still undergoing data analysis, but some results are already available. The survey shows that about two-thirds of the respondents believe that a person's rise in economic and social status largely depends on wealth, connections and social background. This perception is also reflected in the actual data.

Kaiser said that the proportion of East Germans in leadership positions at the highest level of the German federal government has increased from 13.9% in 2022 to 16.3% currently. But she also pointed out: "In fact, the higher the job level, the lower the proportion of East Germans."

Kaiser thus put forward a clear requirement: the so-called equal opportunity should also mean that people can participate in important decisions and have corresponding influence. "It is therefore also my aim that wherever important decisions affecting this country are taken, there should be East Germans at the table - whether in federal ministries, government agencies, business, science, the judiciary, culture or the media," she said.

From the perspective of population proportion, the population of East Germany accounts for about 20% of the total population of Germany. However, in each of the above fields, East Germans are significantly underrepresented. Kaiser cited another Eliten-Monitor study sponsored by his department as evidence.

Data show that between the 2018 and 2024 surveys, the proportion of East Germans in government and private sector leadership positions has hardly increased significantly, rising only from 10.9% to 12.1%. What is particularly eye-catching is that among the 100 largest companies in Germany, all the leaders are from West Germany. The situation is similar with the military. East Germans were also severely underrepresented in top positions in the judiciary and media.

The Elite Monitor is not just a one-off statistic, but a long-term study carried out by the Universities of Jena in Thuringia, the University of Leipzig in Saxony and the University of Applied Sciences Zittau/Gerlitz in Saxony. The study covered 12 areas and surveyed approximately 3,000 senior leadership positions.

The underrepresentation of East Germans in almost all areas of society also appears to have affected many people's self-perception. Kaiser himself belonged to the generation born around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification. She said that she did not have a particularly strong "East German" identity for a long time.

It wasn’t until she entered school and received vocational training that she came to realize that there were real differences between East and West Germany, and that some of these differences put East Germans at a disadvantage. At the same time, new stereotypes have emerged surrounding East Germany, relating both to the past and the present. Kaiser said that based on her years of experience in meeting and communicating with people: "To a certain extent, this East German identity will also be shaped politically, because people are looking for direction and looking for some common ground."

She gave an example: millions of Simson mopeds were produced during the East German period and still have a strong symbolic meaning today. For young people, it once represented freedom of movement and the possibility of independent travel. "This kind of thing was later exploited." The Eastern Affairs Commissioner expressed regret. Although she did not directly name the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, many top representatives of the party like to use this culturally symbolic object at public events.

Kaiser weighed in when asked about the AfD and the party's electoral success in eastern Germany in recent years - most recently in the German states and Berlin.

She believes that these elections send a red flag: international investors and professionals may start to think: "Do I want to go there?" Keizer singled out a number of areas that play an important role in the economic and innovation development of eastern Germany, including the semiconductor industry, the medical and biotech sectors, and renewable energy. She worries that the current economic growth momentum of these industries may be affected as a result.

Related reading: Five things you need to know about German reunification