Deep gap in inheritance and giving away between East and West

Berlin. When it comes to inheriting and giving away wealth, there is still a deep divide between East and West around 36 years after reunification.

In total, the West accounted for 142.5 billion euros in 2025, or 95 percent of the total value of asset transfers taken into account for tax purposes, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Tuesday. The eastern states and Berlin only receive eight billion euros from inheritances and donations.

At the end of 2025, almost a fifth of the population lived in the eastern countries and Berlin (19 percent). However, they only accounted for five percent of the wealth transfers recorded for tax purposes. Mathematically, a good 2,100 euros per capita were transferred in the west, while in the east it was just under 500 euros.

This inequality is also reflected in the tax assessed. Of the total of 21.4 billion euros in inheritance and gift tax, 20.4 billion euros were incurred in the West and one billion euros in the East.

“The stark difference in inheritances and donations between East and West Germany shows once again the great wealth inequality between the two parts of Germany,” said the scientific director of the trade union-affiliated Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Cycle Research (IMK) of the Hans Böckler Foundation, Sebastian Dullien, to the Reuters news agency.