Potsdam. Brandenburg is booming despite the crisis, the population has been increasing for years, no other federal state is experiencing faster economic growth – and yet the development is causing pain. Some regions are benefiting little from the boom.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
Do the people of Brandenburg feel at home in their state? The findings of the new “Brandenburg Barometer”, which was commissioned by the “Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung” together with the “Märkische Oderzeitung” and the “Lausitzer Rundschau”, paint a more differentiated picture: 58 percent of people from Brandenburg say they “really like” living in Brandenburg.
If you add together the responses “very happy” and “rather happy”, 85.1 percent of Brandenburg residents live with a high degree of satisfaction in their state. Men are much more critical than women (difference: four percentage points).
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
The people of Cottbus are less happy than other Märkers
Happiness is unevenly distributed across the country. A belt of satisfaction is emerging around Berlin and in the northwest, with 64.7 percent (“very happy”) in the Ostprignitz-Ruppin district and 63.1 percent in Potsdam-Mittelmark. In contrast, only 42.6 percent in Cottbus are less happy with their life in Brandenburg than those surveyed in the Lausitz city.
People from southern Brandenburg and those near the border consider migration to be a much bigger problem than residents of the suburbs or the western districts. While around 30 percent of respondents nationwide consider immigration and the integration of people from abroad to be an issue in which “something urgently needs to change,” the figure is 43 percent in Cottbus and Frankfurt (Oder).
The older people are, the more comfortable they feel in the state of Brandenburg. Seniors aged 70 and over said in 62 percent of cases that they “really like” living in the Mark, while only 37.6 percent of those under 29 agreed with this assessment.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
Young people are much more skeptical about their living environment than older people
“The years of the pandemic have been particularly hard on young people,” says Martina Weyrauch, head of the Brandenburg State Office for Political Education. “This feeling of being alone, of being thrown back on Tik Tok & Co, was devastating for many children and young people.” Politics and society must give young people “the opportunity to get something going on their own, to be able to make a difference themselves.”
The greatest concerns for the future of people between the Elbe and Oder are the state of education in the country as well as medical care and nursing. 52.2 percent of those surveyed believe that “something most urgently needs to change” in the area of education, while 45.7 percent answered the same in the area of health and nursing.
41.4 percent of participants see an urgent need for action in the transport sector (“mobility/infrastructure”) and almost 31 percent would like to see changes in social and political interaction.
Housing shortages are not an issue in some districts – in others they are the dominant
The issue of housing shows how divided the country is in some areas. While only 4.4 percent of people in the structurally weak Elbe-Elster district and twelve percent of those surveyed in Frankfurt (Oder) see a need for changes in renting, building and living, in Potsdam, with its overheated housing market, the figure is 46.7 percent.
Read more after the ad
Read more after the ad
In Elbe-Elster, however, respondents rate the value of tradition and customs as twice as high as those in Potsdam.
“The needs of the people in the villages are significantly different to those in Potsdam and the suburbs around Berlin,” says Martina Weyrauch. It is also clear that the structural change in the country, which “has been taking place continuously since 1990,” brings with it fear and worry. Politicians must respond to this with “sincere” participation and creative opportunities for the local people. “When I notice that my ‘participation’ only served as an alibi, I feel duped and frustrated,” says Weyrauch.
What all respondents agree on: The best thing about Brandenburg is nature. 91 percent of participants particularly value this. Pretty much all Brandenburgers agree on this – no matter which region they come from.
MAZ
