Gender-Specific Migration from East to West Germany: Where Have All The Young Women Gone?

Steffen Kröhnert
Sebastian Vollmer

Abstract

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, open migration from East to West Germany became possible. Between 1989 and 2007, roughly ten percent of the East’s population at the time of unification migrated from East to West. The emigrants were predominantly young and female. This selective migration pattern led to a tremendous deficit of females in the 18-to-29-year-old age group in East Germany. Overall, the sex ratio in that age group is as low as 89 females per 100 males in the East. In some rural counties, the sex ratio is 80 females per 100 males. We find that excess female emigration at the county level is associated with gender disparities in educational attainment favoring women, a labor market structure that favors men, and lower availability of potential partners with similar levels of education in East Germany.