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LIVING IN GERMANY

IN NUMBERS: How life in Germany has changed since reunification

As Germany marked 31 years of reunification on October 3rd, we looked at what has changed in the past three decades, from life expectancy to religion.

Published: 1 October 2020 09:50 CEST
Updated: 4 October 2021 09:12 CEST
Many aspects of life in Germany have changed since reunification, including the average life expectancy.
Many aspects of life in Germany have changed since reunification, including the average life expectancy. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Fabian Strauch

Life expectancy

According to the Federal Statistical Office, the average life expectancy in Germany is currently around 83 years for women and 78 for men. 

In 1990, the average life expectancy amongst those born in former West Germany was 79 for women and 73 for men. 

According to figures from 1989, women born in the East could expect to live until they were about 76, while men could expect to live to around 70-years-old on average. 

Beer

According to the German Brewers’ Association, the average German consumes about 100 litres of beer a year. 

Just over 30 years ago the average amount was 143 litres. Beer consumption in Germany reached its peak in the West in 1976, when the average citizen consumed a record 151 litres.

READ ALSO: Ten things you never knew about German reunification

Football

The 2020 European Football Championship was cancelled due to coronavirus (and later rescheduled to 2021).

1990, on the other hand, was a World Cup year. Headed by coach Franz Beckenbauer, Germany became World Champions for the third time in Rome. 

Germany became World Champions for a third time at the World Cup Final in Rome in 1990. Photo: DPA

FC Bayern Munich were German champions in 1990 and won the same title again this year. 

Their victory in 1900 time was their eleventh title, while their victory this year marks their 29th. 

Hansa Rostock emerged as champions in the last GDR Premier League, which ended in May 1991.

Religion

According to church data, around 50 percent of the German population currently identify as Protestant or Roman Catholic. 

Three decades ago this figure was 72 percent. In the GDR, however, around 70 percent of citizens were said to have no religious affiliation.

READ ALSO: Six things to know about Catholicism in Germany

The proportion of Muslims in the country rose from 3.7 percent in 1990 to around five percent in 2000. And a study from earlier in 2021 found that between 5.3 and 5.6 million people of the Islam faith currently live in Germany, making up a share of 6.4 to 6.7 percent of the country’s total population – which stands at around 83.2 million.

READ ALSO: A breakdown of Germany’s Muslim population

In 2019, 95,000 citizens were registered as belonging to the Jewish community, compared to less than 30,000 in 1990. 

Smoking

According to recent figures from the German Cancer Research Center, 22 percent of Germans over the age of 15 are smokers. Thirty years ago this figure lay at almost 30 percent. 

The proportion of men who smoke has decreased from 37 to 26 percent, while the proportion of women has decreased from 22 to 18 percent. 

READ ALSO: German restaurant owner gives non-smoking employees extra holiday

Meat consumption

According to the interest group ProVeg, around eight million Germans are currently vegetarian, while 1.3 million are vegan. 

Estimates suggest that only one percent of the population in 1990 were vegetarian, that is to say around 800,000 citizens. 

Sunday TV

Around four million TV viewers tuned in to the last ever episode of German soap opera Lindenstraße in March 2020, twice as many viewers as normal.

In the first three years after it first came on air in 1985, its average viewing figures reached over 10 million. In 1990 the show still had around nine million viewers every Sunday.

TV

The average German spent on average 211 minutes (or three and a half hours) watching TV every day in 2019. 

In 1990, the average (albeit only for West Germany) was around 147 minutes (or about two and a half hours).

Records for Germany as a whole only began in 1992 –  the average back then was 158 minutes.

Foreign holidays

Before the Covid pandemic hit, Germans were particularly keen travellers. 

In 2019, 74 percent of Germans headed abroad for a holiday, more than ever before according to a study by the German Research Foundation for Holidays and Travel.

Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania is particularly popular with German tourists. Photo: DPA

Of those, 8.4 percent of these travelled longer distances for their holidays, but the clear favourite amongst Germans was Spain at 12.7 percent, followed by Italy, Turkey, Austria and Greece. 

Spain also took the top spot for holiday destinations in 1990, with Italy following shortly behind. 

Domestic holidays

According to the same study, the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, which borders on the Baltic sea, is the most popular holiday destination amongst German tourists. 

Runners up were Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Baden-Württemberg.

The fall of the Wall in 1989 saw a huge surge in the amount of East Germans travelling around the country in the following year. The amount of West Germans travelling to the new German states, however, was lower than expected. 

READ ALSO: Staycations boom in Germany amid heavy losses to tourism industry

Berlin

Germany’s capital, along with London and Paris, is one of the top three travel destinations in Europe. 

In 2019, before the pandemic took hold, the city registered almost 14 million day-visitors, with around 34 million staying overnight. 

At the beginning of the nineties there were only around 3 million visitors a year, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg Office for Statistics. 

Tourism

According to the German Tourism Board, 90 million tourists came to stay in German in 2019, around three times as many as in 1990. 

Women

Merkel is Germany’s first female Chancellor. Photo: DPA

Angela Merkel, the first female Chancellor, is set to stand down soon after being head of the German government for 16 years.

In 1990 this breakthrough was still a long way away – in both East and West Germany only men had held the top position. 

The proportion of women in today’s newly-elected Bundestag is 34 percent – a small increase from the previous electoral term when there was around 30 percent. 

In the first reunited German Bundestag in 1990, only 20 percent of MPs were women.

READ ALSO: What did Germany’s first female chancellor do for women?

Gay rights

Same-sex couples have been allowed to get married in Germany since 2017. Germany in 1990, however, was still quite a homophobic country. 

Press coverage of the murder of gay actor Walter Sedlmayr was widely spread and sensationalist, and the airing of a Lindenstraße episode where two men kissed caused an uproar. 

Until 1994, the age of consent for gay people remained higher than in the West than in the East, because politicians refused to alter the discriminatory clause 175 in the German constitution for years.

 

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LIVING IN GERMANY

Living in Germany: Battles over Bürgergeld, rolling the ‘die’ and carnival lingo

From the push to reform long-term unemployment benefits to the lingo you need to know as Carnival season kicks off, we look at the highlights of life in Germany.

Published: 14 November 2022 09:54 CET
Living in Germany: Battles over Bürgergeld, rolling the 'die' and carnival lingo

Deadlock looms as debates over Bürgergeld heat up 

Following a vote in the Bundestag on Thursday, the government’s planned reforms to long-term unemployment benefits are one step closer to becoming reality. Replacing the controversial Hartz IV system, Bürgergeld (or Citizens’ Allowance) is intended to be a fair bit easier on claimants.

Not only will the monthly payment be raised from €449 to €502, but jobseekers will also be given a grace period of two years before checks are carried out on the size of their apartment or savings of up to €60,000. The system will also move away from sanctions with a so-called “trust period” of six months, during which benefits won’t be docked at all – except in very extreme circumstances. 

Speaking in parliament, Labour Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) said the spirit of the new system was “solidarity, trust and encouragement” and praised the fact that Bürgergeld would help people get back into the job market with funding for training and education. But not everyone is happy about the changes. In particular, politicians from the opposition CDU/CSU parties have responded with outrage at the move away from sanctions.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz has even branded the system a step towards “unconditional Basic Income” and argued that nobody will be incentivised to return to work. 

The CDU and CSU are now threatening to block the Bürgergeld legislation when it’s put to a vote in the Bundesrat on Monday. With the conservatives controlling most of the federal states – and thus most of the seats in the upper house – things could get interesting. Be sure to keep an eye out for our coverage in the coming weeks to see how the saga unfolds. 

Tweet of the week

When you first start learning German, picking the right article to use can truly be a roll of the “die” – so we’re entirely on board with this slightly unconventional way to decide whether you’re in a “der”, “die”, or “das” situation. (Warning: this may not improve your German.) 

Where is this?

Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Boris Roessler

Residents of Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area will no doubt recognise this as the charming town of Kronberg, which is nestled at the foot of the Taunus mountains.

This atmospheric scene was snapped on Friday morning, when a drop in temperatures saw Kronberg and surrounding forests shrouded in autumnal fog.

After a decidedly warm start to November, the mercury is expected to drop into single digits over the weekend. 

Did you know?

November 11th marked the start of carnival season in Germany. But did you know that there’s a whole set of lingo to go along with the tradition? And it all depends on where you are. First of all, the celebration isn’t called the same thing everywhere. In the Rhineland, it’s usually called Karneval, while people in Bavaria or Saxony tend to call it Fasching. Those in Hesse and Saarland usually call it Fastnacht. 

And depending on where you are, there are different things to shout. The ‘fools call’ you’ll hear in Cologne is “Alaaf!” If you move away from Cologne, you’ll hear “Helau!” This is the traditional cry in the carnival strongholds of Düsseldorf and Mainz, as well as in some other German cities.

In the Swabian-Alemannic language region in the southwest of the country, people yell “Narri-Narro”, which means “I’m a fool, you’re a fool”. In Saarland at the French border, they shout “Alleh hopp!”, which is said to originate from the French language. 

Lastly, if someone offers you a Fastnachtskrapfe, say yes because it’s a jelly-filled carnival donut. And if you’re offered a Bützchen? It’s your call, but know that it’s a little kiss given to strangers!

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