Responding to a question posed by the BSW party, the Federal Statistical Office of Germany reported that households in the five new federal states and Berlin had an average of 7,247 euros less net disposable income last year than those in the West (East: 42,259 euros, West: 49,506 euros).

According to the data, disposable household income last year was lowest in Saxony-Anhalt, at 38,284 euros (any connection with the recent election results there?); Saxony followed as second-lowest with 39,500 euros. Western states by comparison: Bavaria ranks highest with a net household income of 53,067 euros, followed by Baden-Württemberg with 51,923 euros, Hesse (49,538 euros), Rhineland-Palatinate (48,813 euros), and North Rhine-Westphalia (48,455 euros).

The BSW’s Sahra Wagenknecht declared on X: “The fact that income disparities between East and West are widening again is a damning indictment of political leadership on Unity Day. An annual income gap of over 7,000 euros for East German households is no small difference—it is a bitter reality after 36 years. There can be no talk of unity in living standards! The chancellor’s policy of cuts to pensions, long-term care, and health care hits the East particularly hard, because people there not only have lower incomes but also far fewer reserves in the form of private savings.”