How population decline is exposing Germany's old divides

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. How population decline is exposing Germany's old dividesPublished1 hour agoByJessica ParkerBerlin correspondentJan-Niklas Hustedt remembers going to techno parties in the abandoned canteen of a pump factory that had drastically downsized after reunification, in his hometown of Oschersleben. He was born in East Germany in 1989, just a few weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He describes himself as a "wendekind"; a child of the turning point.

Now, at 36, he recalls how that time would change his community. Image caption, Parts of the old East quickly emptied outMany businesses in the communist east struggled or simply collapsed as they were thrust into a profit-driven, highly competitive, global economy. "You hear all the stories," says Jan-Niklas.

The Details

"Lots of people left because the opportunities were in the west. "In the 35 years after reunification, the country's overall population grew by 3. 8 million, a 5% increase - driven by immigration.

But in the five states that were part of the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR), the population has fallen by 16% (this figure excludes East Berlin). The state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Oschersleben lies, recorded the most dramatic decline at 26% - according to official statistics published last year. Now, across large swathes of the more rural east, further population falls are expected as the east's post-reunification "brain drain" combines with a national trend: low birth rates.

Look at the map by government demographers; the deep blue areas – where the starkest drops are expected – are highly concentrated in the less urbanised parts of the east. Only the state of Brandenburg, which encircles Berlin and sees spillover from the capital city, bucks the trend. Longer term, as Germany's population ages, the country's federal statistics office says there will "in all likelihood" be fewer people by 2070.

What Experts Say

For eastern states outside of Berlin, that's projected to be the case "under all scenarios". Such projections are based on certain assumptions and are not set in stone. But this demographic change may be helping drive up support for Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party that's classified, within Saxony-Anhalt, as right-wing extremist by domestic intelligence.

Yet it's in this state that the AfD could win power in elections later this year. It's a potentially seismic moment for Germany. 'Tear down this wall'News footage from 1989 shows the euphoric scenes as people poured across what had, for decades, been a heavily guarded no man's land; the Berlin Wall.

Those on foot swarmed across in crowds while the sudden influx of fume-belching East German Trabant cars sparked complaints about pollution in the west. But it would also become a time of an enormous sense of loss for people in the east who found their socialist society absorbed, almost overnight, into the capitalist west.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.