Visualizing Millions of People Moving from the East to West in Germany – Center for Data Innovation

Zeit Online, a German newspaper, has created a series of data visualizations illustrating the emigration of millions of people from the eastern to western parts of Germany following the nation’s reunification in 1990. The visualizations show that nearly every former East German county lost more people than it gained to former West German areas between 1991-2017. This migration shrunk the populations of many former East German counties, reducing their tax revenues and resulting in effects that are still visible today, such as a lack of public infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.