Demographics
June 4, 2007
German Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, in charge of eastern German economic development, has said he wants to spend some 4 million euros ($5.4 million) over the next two years on measures to make the former East German states more attractive to young people.
"The prognosis for population development up to 2050 are alarming," Tiefensee told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper. "Especially young women are leaving the east. We cannot just sit idly by and watch."
The minister plans to start his "model project" in two of nine regions that have been deemed most affected. These areas are all predominantly rural.
Saved by the bookmobile?
"We want to see how we can improve services to thinly populated areas," Tiefensee told the paper. The idea is to provide mobile medical services, multi-generational homes, and book-mobiles, and on-call bus service, among others.
A new study by the Berlin Institute, a demographics research group, published on Wednesday showed that young people -- especially women between the ages of 18 and 29 -- are flooding to western Germany from the eastern states. As a result, there are 25 percent more men than women in some areas -- a European record.
Jobs first, opponents say
Tiefensee's plan met with some criticism, however. The German Association of Mid-Sized Businesses called it a "step in the wrong direction" that failed to attack the roots of the problem.
Talking to the ddp news agency, the leader of the Magdeburg branch of the association, Jutta Schubert, said the answer is to ensure jobs exist for the people who are already living there. Tiefensee's first step should be to give businesses incentive to move to or stay in the area, she said.
She suggested that business-friendly measures -- giving businesses more flexibility to hire and fire employees, creating financial incentives for companies -- would bring businesses and jobs to the east.
Similarly, Wolfgang Böhmer, premier of the eastern state of Sachsen-Anhalt, said he was skeptical that such a project would create lasting change. He, too, told state television that he thought job creation was the best way to keep people in the area.