East and West Germany have not been separated for 28 years - so on December 31st, Germany has been united longer than it was separated by the wall and barbed wire. But the differences between the old and new federal states are still large, as can be seen from the federal government's annual report on the status of German unity in 2018 . As the graphic from Statista shows, the economic strength is still lower than in the rest of Germany. The average gross domestic product across Germany in 2017 was around 39,500 euros. In East Germany it is only 28,323 euros. Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is at the bottom with 26,560 euros, while the city state of Hamburg leads the ranking by far with 64,567 euros.