Köppen, Bernhard; Schneider, Norbert F.; Mühlichen, Michael (2018)
In: Köppen, Bernhard; Schneider, Norbert F. (Hrsg.): Demographics of Korea and Germany. Population Changes and Socioeconomic Impact of two Divided Nations in the Light of Reunification. Opladen, Berlin, Toronto: Barbara Budrich: 89–100
The major focus of this study is the impact of reunification on population development and structure, although it is not possible to clearly determine to what extent reunification or other, parallel conditions were the chief shapers of demographic changes since 1990. It has already been mentioned that most development is embedded in long-term trends with temporary oscillating values related to reunification or the specific regulatory system of the authoritarian GDR regime. As an example, the sudden decline in births within a general tendency towards lower fertility and massive outbound migration from the Neue Länder are linked reunification and regional east-west disparities in economic prosperity. They are prototypical “direct” consequences of reunification, shaping the demographic patterns and structure. Current convergence in TFR, however, is associated with the long-term phenomenon of the Second Demographic Transition and the high numbers of babies born out of wedlock in the Neue Länder were rooted in historical periods (and conditions) even before Germany was separated, to give an example.