Living standards and deprivation in eastern and western Germany

Abstract

"The so-called 'Aufbau Ost' (development of the eastern part of Germany) is to be considered 'finished' when the living conditions in eastern Germany reach the level of those in the west. These are exactly the living conditions that are examined in this article. Three questions stand in the forefront: Firstly, does a general commonly accepted notion of what one needs to live in Germany exist? Secondly, has this living standard been achieved equally in both parts of the country? And finally thirdly: What groups in Federal German society are excluded from this living standard to a significant degree? We term the insufficient participation of an individual in the generally accepted living standard 'deprivation' if it does not arise through a voluntary decision but is rather a result of external (socially conditioned) circumstances. As our notions of an adequate living standard are usually multidimensional, what we are interested in is not whether insufficient participation takes place in one area but in several. In other words, we are concerned with forms of multiple deprivation in Germany in the wake of reunification and with the question of whether these have decreased or increased with time between the two parts of the country and different groups of the population." (text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Andreß, H., Christoph, B. & Lietzmann, T. (2010): Lebensstandard und Deprivation in Ost- und Westdeutschland. In: P. Krause & I. Ostner (Hrsg.) (2010): Leben in Ost- und Westdeutschland : eine sozialwissenschaftliche Bilanz der deutschen Einheit 1990-2010, p. 513-540.