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Cited by 12Migration and Labor DynamicsGerman History and SocietyMigration, Refugees, and Integration

30 Years of East-West Migration in Germany: A Synthesis of the Literature and Potential Directions for Future Research

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Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge, Matthias, Stawarz, Nico, Sander, Nikola·2022·Comparative Population Studies
DOI 10.12765/cpos-2022-08
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Abstract

The reunification of the socialist German Democratic Republic and the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany presents a unique setting for studying the impact of socio-economic and political change on migration. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the interdisciplinary literature on migration between East and West Germany since reunification, conducted in disciplines such as economics, demography, sociology, and human geography. We synthesise the literature with regard to data-related challenges as well as individual and contextual determinants of migration. We clarify some misinterpretations and discrepancies in previous studies, identify research gaps, and suggest directions for future research. Our review demonstrates that East-West migration mainly occurred in line with what could have been expected based on migration theory with regard to migrants’ sex, age, education, labour market position, and social networks. West-East migration, in contrast, was strongly affected by return migrants who often stated non-occupational motives for moving. On the contextual level, differences in wages are better able to explain East-West migration over time than differences in unemployment rates. West-East migration, however, cannot be explained well with such macroeconomic models. This paper contributes a point of reference for future research on this topic, as well as on internal migration and socio-economic disparities in general.

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  • Many high-income countries continue to face considerable internal migration, especially from rural to urban areas, leading to a tendency of unbalanced spatial economic development.

    “Many high-income countries continue to face considerable internal migration, especially from rural to urban areas, leading to a tendency of unbalanced spatial economic development (see, e.g., Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge et al. 2022).”

    From Fertility in High-Income Countries: Trends, Patterns, Determinants, and Consequences (2024) · cites this paper as Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge et al. 2022

    Section 5.2 reports substantial internal migration and continued outmigration from rural East Germany, and the Conclusions discuss rural-to-urban migration within East Germany. These passages support Germany as an example, but the paper does not establish a pattern across many high-income countries or show that migration leads to unbalanced spatial economic development; section 5.1 instead discusses economic differences as a driver of migration. The indexed passages provide section labels but no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Authors
Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge, M., Stawarz, N., & Sander, N.
Affiliations
Federal Institute for Population Research (DE)
ORCID
Venue
Comparative Population Studies
Publisher
German Federal Institute for Population Research
Published
2022-04-27
Volume
47
ISSN
  • 1869-8980 (ISSN-L)
  • 1869-8999
DOI
10.12765/cpos-2022-08
OpenAlex
W4225014215
Cited by
12
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1
FWCI
3.60
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Comparative Population Studies (publishedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Econstor (Econstor) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Social Science Open Access Repository (GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Bundesinstitut für Bevolkerungsforschung (CPoS) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
  • Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Labor Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › German History and Society
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
Keywords
East-West migration, German reunification, East Germany, Federal Republic of Germany, return migration, socio-economic determinants of migration, wage differentials, unemployment, migration theory, internal migration, socioeconomic disparities, social networks, labour market position

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