East Germany still lagging behind West

BERLIN, June 19 (UPI) -- Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, statistics show what once was Communist East Germany is still lagging mightily behind the West.

Wolfgang Tiefensee, the minister responsible for the development of the former East German states, says the "gap is closing" but unemployment remains double that of western areas, The New York Times reported Friday.

The newspaper says since the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, about 12 percent of the East German population has left.

Adding to the problem is a declining birth rate that has prompted the closing of about 2,000 schools.

The city of Hoyerswerda, once a model of Communist East Germany, has seen the average age of its citizens increase from 35 in 1989 to 48 today.

To keep up with a declining population, Hoyerswerda's government has been forced to tear down apartment buildings.

"Every time I visit my parents and I drive through Hoyerswerda, there's every time a new house ... torn down," says Judika Zirzow.