In Berlin, 140,000 euros ($165,000) would get you a one-bedroom apartment on the fringes of town – and that's if you're lucky.
But, if you drive a little over 90 minutes south of the German capital, that same amount is enough to pick up a whole village. [...]
Whereas western Germany has been gaining inhabitants slightly, and the overall German population has held steady, eastern Germany – particularly when the eastern part of Berlin is bracketed out – has been losing people in past years. In 2015, the Federal Office of Statistics estimated that 12.5 million people lived in the former Communist east excluding Berlin. That was 2.3 million fewer than when Germany was reunified in 1989-90. And experts fear that number could drop further to only 11 million by 2030. [...]
The German constitution sets out establishing "equality of living conditions" as one of the goals of government. And with both of Germany's largest political parties, Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats, struggling to attract support in eastern Germany, neither is likely to admit it's willing to let some small communities in the east disappear. In their official platforms, both parties have promised additional aid for struggling rural communities and infrastructural investments like bringing broadband internet to the German countryside.
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But, if you drive a little over 90 minutes south of the German capital, that same amount is enough to pick up a whole village. [...]
Whereas western Germany has been gaining inhabitants slightly, and the overall German population has held steady, eastern Germany – particularly when the eastern part of Berlin is bracketed out – has been losing people in past years. In 2015, the Federal Office of Statistics estimated that 12.5 million people lived in the former Communist east excluding Berlin. That was 2.3 million fewer than when Germany was reunified in 1989-90. And experts fear that number could drop further to only 11 million by 2030. [...]
The German constitution sets out establishing "equality of living conditions" as one of the goals of government. And with both of Germany's largest political parties, Angela Merkel's conservatives and the Social Democrats, struggling to attract support in eastern Germany, neither is likely to admit it's willing to let some small communities in the east disappear. In their official platforms, both parties have promised additional aid for struggling rural communities and infrastructural investments like bringing broadband internet to the German countryside.
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