News

Hard Numbers: How much has Germany really reunified?

57: Three decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a majority of Germans in the former communist East say they feel like second-class citizens. Fifty-seven percent reported feeling marginalized and inferior, which could explain the surge in their support for the far-right Afd party.

10: While the global population is expected to swell over the next thirty years, the population of Eastern Europe is spiraling in the other direction: the 10 fastest shrinking countries are in that region, according to the United Nations. A major cause of population decline is the lack of economic opportunity that's causing many young people to pursue education and jobs in wealthier Western Europe.

30: Majorities in both East and West Germany view reunification favorably, yet few believe that living standards in both are equal. Thirty percent of Germans say the East has not achieved equal economic footing with the Western part of the country, but statistics show that thirty years post-reunification, the East is actually on course to catch up economically.

35 million: Today, there are roughly 35 million Germans who were born after the fall of the Berlin Wall and know about the country's division only from anecdotes and history books.

More For You

People vote in the legislative elections in Algiers, Algeria, on July 2, 2026. The electorate, including the diaspora, consists of 24,727,041 registered voters. These elections will elect the 407 members of the tenth legislature of the People's National Assembly (APN), with a mandate of five years.
Billel Bensalem/APP/NurPhoto

Algerians are headed to the polls today to elect their next members of parliament. However, hopes for true democracy look more remote than ever.

Natalie Johnson

In addition to the health concerns from the Ebola outbreak, the UN is sounding the alarm on a potential development crisis in Africa sparked by the disease.

Protesters hold flamingo-shaped placards and a large representation of a flamingo as they demonstrate against the government, following weeks of protests against a planned luxury resort backed by a company linked to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, on an environmentally sensitive part of the Adriatic coast, in Tirana, Albania, on June 22, 2026.
REUTERS/Valdrin Xhemaj

The protests in the small Balkan country were touched off by the start of construction on a seaside luxury resort linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.