As of 2023, the population of East Germany, which includes the five federal states (Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), is approximately **12.5 million** people. This accounts for about 15% of Germany's total population of over 84 million people.
So, some 12+4=16M East Germans fled west between 1945 and 1990, while some 2 + 1.25=3.25 M People immigrated after the Wende, meaning there are 12.5-3.25=9.5M East Germans still in East Germany compared with 16M that went West!
Germany's government has pumped in 2.2 TRILLION euros since the fall of the DDR. That's 172.000€ for every man women and child.
Yet, over thirty years later East Germany is still a quarter less productive that West Germany:
GDP per capita in West Germany is around €44,000 to €46,000.GDP per capita in East Germany is around €34,000 to €36,000.
If you spend time in East Germany you'll realise how just how much it's still in people's minds that an economy is organised around political "morals" rather than "survival".
