How population decline is exposing Germany's old divides

It doesn't take long to spot an empty shop front, or several of the area's growing number of elderly people. Now Jan-Niklas, who sees reunification as a "success story" overall, is on a mission to bring younger people and families back. It's "home", he says. "I like the people. I think they deserve [to do] well." He left when he was in his late teens, to later return having built a career as a recruiter for a major German bank. His move home made the local news. "Back in Oschersleben after 13 years," read the Volksstimme (People's Voice) headline. "Returnee calls for ways to combat the skilled-worker shortage." That's just one problem with population decline; filling vacant jobs, including crucial social and healthcare roles to support the increasingly elderly population. Fewer people can also lead to fewer services, such as shops, maternity wards, and schools. While a large number of migrants or refugees have come to Germany from countries including Ukraine, Syria and Turkey – as well as from other EU nations – those immigrants have mainly headed to big cities, such as Berlin, and the more urbanised west. And even when accounting for these people, Germany has an ageing population as the baby-boomer generation increasingly retires, and the nationwide birth rate stays stubbornly low. It means a shrinking workforce is having to shoulder the cost of a growing number of retirees. …