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| East Germans benefit from reunification by living longer | East Germans benefit from reunification by living longer |
| (about 7 hours later) | |
| The life expectancy of east Germans has risen sharply since their communist state crumbled and they were reunified with the more prosperous west in 1990, a study shows. | |
| Reunification added 6.2 years for men in the former east and 4.2 years for women, according to calculations conducted by Tobias Vogt, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, published ahead of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this year. | |
| If the German Democratic Republic still existed, boys born in 2011 could expect to live to the age of 70.9 while girls would have a life expectancy of 78.7 years, the study showed. | |
| But, in reunified Germany, boys born in 2011 were forecast to live until they were 77.1 years old and girls could expect to reach the age of 82.9. | |
| "The gain in longevity is thus one of the biggest – albeit often overlooked – achievements of German reunification," said Vogt. | "The gain in longevity is thus one of the biggest – albeit often overlooked – achievements of German reunification," said Vogt. |
| He said the increase in life expectancy for east Germans was likely due to improvements in medical treatment and an improved standard of living since reunification. Reuters |