Every fourth resident of eastern Germany believes that they now live worse than before 1989. Overall, in the east, there is a widespread belief that during the reunification, the residents of the GDR were shortchanged and simply taken advantage of. As Deutsche Welle reports, such data are contained in a sociological survey conducted by the German public opinion research institute Forsa for the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
For their part, many in western Germany believe that they have to support eastern Germans out of their own pockets. The greatest dissatisfaction among all respondents is caused by the functioning of the existing socio-political system.
60% of residents of eastern Germany and 59% in the west consider it 'on the whole unfair.' This opinion is equally common among representatives of all age groups. A particular disappointment is the increase in corruption observed since 1989. However, at the same time, 90% of respondents declared their commitment to the principle of democracy.