Berlin as the capital is okay – but living there? No thanks! This is how the results of a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency can be interpreted. The real or supposed cosmopolitan flair is unimportant to many Germans. Small towns and villages are also ideal, especially for children and pensioners. But first things first.
Of the five German-speaking cities with over a million inhabitants, adults in Germany clearly have a favorite metropolis, namely Hamburg – the second largest city in the Federal Republic is “most likeable” (25 percent) according to a survey. Only then do Munich (19 percent), Vienna (15 percent), Berlin (12 percent) and Cologne (11 percent) follow. The rest didn’t want to choose any of the cities.
When people are asked in which of the ten largest cities in Germany they would most like to live, almost a third (31 percent) say: In none of these cities. After all, 16 percent say Hamburg or Munich, 10 percent Berlin, 6 percent Cologne and 5 percent Leipzig. Far behind are Frankfurt/Main, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Dortmund and Essen. Unlike in France or Austria, for example, the gap between metropolis and province in Germany is smaller – because of the federal structure with 16 state capitals and other important metropolises such as Cologne, Frankfurt, Leipzig, or Nuremberg, Mannheim, Bonn and others .
Nevertheless, there is an imbalance between town and country – for example in the media presence. On the other hand, in densely populated Germany it is often not so easy to say where the city ends and where the so-called country begins. Villages and smaller towns in the environs of large cities are often doing quite well, but elsewhere entire regions are suffering from rural exodus, especially in eastern Germany.
In the east, the capital Berlin, which is located there, is more popular than in the west. When asked “Are you happy that Berlin is Germany’s capital?” 75 percent answer yes in the east (66 in the west) – 68 percent in total. The approval rating for Berlin as the capital is below average in Bavaria, Bremen and North Rhine-Westphalia, for example.
This is possibly all due to a centuries-old mentality. As is well known, German history is that of a “delayed nation” (sociologist Helmuth Plessner). For a long time, Germany was fragmented into small states, which is why it had many small centers. It was the Prussian politician Otto von Bismarck who formed the German national state with “iron and blood” as a so-called Kleindeutsch solution, i.e. without Austria – after victories in wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870/71).
Speaking of Austria: According to a survey, the Alpine republic is the most likeable country among Germany’s neighbors for German citizens. The country was chosen from the nine neighbors by 22 percent of those over 18 years old. The Netherlands, Denmark, France and Switzerland follow. After the terrible wrong turns of National Socialism, Germany (at least in the West), which had been pacified by the Allies, re-established itself as a confederation of states, so to speak – as the federal Federal Republic of Germany. One year after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the states that had been re-established in East Germany joined it.
Federalism is still loved and cultivated today, but also rejected and sometimes perceived as an annoying patchwork quilt. Recently, for example, it showed its complicated side in the corona pandemic with various regulations of the federal states. However, in Germany there is widespread pride in life in small units, in everyday life beyond the big city – and this also applies to regions that are not federal states at all, do not form their own state, such as Swabia and Franconia.
Perhaps this is also where the romantic notion of regional roots comes from, the German love of country life. When asked “In your opinion, where should a child in Germany ideally grow up?” 57 percent decide for the answers “small town” and “village”. Only ten percent prefer the big city (more than 100,000 inhabitants).
And not only for childhood, but also for old age, a majority of people actually prefer the country or the small town. When it comes to being able to choose where to live in their own retirement, 58 percent say they would like to spend it in a place with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants – 26 percent say “small town (5,000 to 20,000 inhabitants)” and at least 32 percent “In a rural area/village (less than 5000 inhabitants)”. The value for the big city is only 16 percent.
