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This is really horribly misleading. It's primarily because Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Hesse are the richest non-city states (in terms of per-capita GDP).

This is really horribly misleading. It's primarily because Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, and Hesse are the richest non-city states (in terms of per-capita GDP). But if you include city states, then Hamburg and Bremen are both richer than those, while Saxony, Thuringia, Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland are among the poorer German states [1]. (Comparatively speaking; obviously, they're still pretty darn well off compared to most of the world.) Also, the West-East divide is far bigger than the North-South divide still. There's not a single state in the former East Germany with higher per-capita GDP than any of the former West German ones. The line that the article draws is overall pretty arbitrary and mixes up rich and poor states on both sides of the divide. The EU has regional breakdowns at the NUTS-2 [2] and NUTS-3 level that provide a more nuanced picture. [1] http://imactivate.com/regionexplorer/indexedeu/?options=true&columns=0,43,48,56,58,60,62,64,68,70,75,81,85,90,94,92,86 http://imactivate.com/regionexplorer/indexedeu/?options=true... [2] http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/GDP_at_regional_level http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/...

deleted 9y ago
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allendoerfer 9y ago
This. The North has a few big cities but states like Brandenburg, Lower Saxony or even Northern Hesse are basically empty, compared to the South. Of course rural areas have a lower GDP.
leipert 9y ago
I agree. I think it is fair to say that Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have more economical power than other states, and one would be churlish not to recognize that. But those other metrics he cites are chosen arbitrarily: - School Rankings. If you look for different criteria, e.g. the teacher-pupil ratio in elementary schools, it looks totally different. [1] And if you look at universities, different again [2]. If you look at the school quality (defined by ability to read and STEM subjects) the, east and north looks really good. [3] - Life expectancy: Come on... Men: Between the 4th and 11th place is just 1 year. Women: Between the 4th and 15th place is one year. [4] Furthermore I think the combination of this states is chosen rather poorly. Ask anyone in Leipzig or Kassel if they consider themselves to be from the south of Germany. No one would does that. [1]: http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_schueler-lehrer-relation-grundschulen.html http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_schueler-lehr... [2]: http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_betreuungsrelation-hochschule.html http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_betreuungsrel... [3]: http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_iqb-lesen-2015.html http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_iqb-lesen-201... [4]: http://www.lebenserwartung.info/index-Dateien/regdiff.htm http://www.lebenserwartung.info/index-Dateien/regdiff.htm
rothbardrand 9y ago
Any division of a country is going to be arbitrary to some extent, but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- an artificial border-- while north south is due to culture, a difference more of choice than edict.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  > but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- No, East-West was because of the border running North-South through Germany intersecting with the main motorway from Hannover to Berlin at Helmstedt. The Berlin Wall was an interior division separating two parts of Berlin, 'West Berlin' and 'East Berlin', but to get to West Berlin by road you had to cross through a large chunk of East Germany first, and then you'd enter West-Berlin through yet another border crossing. The road from Helmstedt to West-Berlin was known as the 'corridor'. West Berlin was best thought of as an island within East Germany with the Berlin wall circling West Berlin.
eighthnate 9y ago
> Also, the West-East divide is far bigger than the North-South divide still. There's not a single state in the former East Germany with higher per-capita GDP than any of the former West German ones. Interesting. It's amazing that even after 25 years of reunification, east germany still lags behind west germany. Also, isn't east germany in northern germany as well. It does seem like the author cherrypicked data just to write an article.

deleted 9y ago

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allendoerfer 9y ago

This. The North has a few big cities but states like Brandenburg, Lower Saxony or even Northern Hesse are basically empty, compared to the South. Of course rural areas have a lower GDP.

leipert 9y ago

I agree. I think it is fair to say that Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have more economical power than other states, and one would be churlish not to recognize that. But those other metrics he cites are chosen arbitrarily: - School Rankings. If you look for different criteria, e.g. the teacher-pupil ratio in elementary schools, it looks totally different. [1] And if you look at universities, different again [2]. If you look at the school quality (defined by ability to read and STEM subjects) the, east and north looks really good. [3] - Life expectancy: Come on... Men: Between the 4th and 11th place is just 1 year. Women: Between the 4th and 15th place is one year. [4] Furthermore I think the combination of this states is chosen rather poorly. Ask anyone in Leipzig or Kassel if they consider themselves to be from the south of Germany. No one would does that. [1]: http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_schueler-lehrer-relation-grundschulen.html http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_schueler-lehr... [2]: http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_betreuungsrelation-hochschule.html http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_betreuungsrel... [3]: http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_iqb-lesen-2015.html http://www.insm-bildungsmonitor.de/2017_best_i_iqb-lesen-201... [4]: http://www.lebenserwartung.info/index-Dateien/regdiff.htm http://www.lebenserwartung.info/index-Dateien/regdiff.htm

rothbardrand 9y ago

Any division of a country is going to be arbitrary to some extent, but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- an artificial border-- while north south is due to culture, a difference more of choice than edict.

jacquesm 9y ago
> but east/west was due to the Berlin Wall-- No, East-West was because of the border running North-South through Germany intersecting with the main motorway from Hannover to Berlin at Helmstedt. The Berlin Wall was an interior division separating two parts of Berlin, 'West Berlin' and 'East Berlin', but to get to West Berlin by road you had to cross through a large chunk of East Germany first, and then you'd enter West-Berlin through yet another border crossing. The road from Helmstedt to West-Berlin was known as the 'corridor'. West Berlin was best thought of as an island within East Germany with the Berlin wall circling West Berlin.

eighthnate 9y ago

> Also, the West-East divide is far bigger than the North-South divide still. There's not a single state in the former East Germany with higher per-capita GDP than any of the former West German ones. Interesting. It's amazing that even after 25 years of reunification, east germany still lags behind west germany. Also, isn't east germany in northern germany as well. It does seem like the author cherrypicked data just to write an article.