East Germans in executive chairs? Proportion rising only slowly

35 years after German reunification, East Germans are comparatively rare in executive positions: Their share of management positions grew from 10.9 to 12.1 percent between 2018 and 2024, according to Elisabeth Kaiser (SPD), the Commissioner for Eastern Germany. In business, however, the proportion fell from 5.1 to 4.0 percent, and in culture from 9.3 to 6.8 percent.

According to the figures, this is significantly lower than the proportion of native East Germans in the population of around 20 percent. The exception is politics, such as representation in parliaments: The proportion of East Germans was 21.4 percent in 2024, compared to 19.9 percent in 2018.

Kaiser referred to current figures from the so-called Elite Monitor conducted by the universities of Leipzig and Jena and the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. The study has been monitoring the development of around 3,000 top positions in twelve sectors for years. The German government has set itself the goal of increasing the proportion of East Germans in management positions.

More East German managers in federal authorities

According to Kaiser, progress is also being made where she has direct influence - in the federal administration. The SPD politician said that the proportion of East Germans in management positions in top federal authorities had risen from 13.9 percent in 2022 to 15.5 percent. In top federal authorities, the proportion rose from 11.9 to 12.6 percent.

"It clearly shows that if you actively tackle the issue, things will move," said Kaiser. "The federal government is setting a good example here."

However, according to the data, the progress in the federal administration mainly relates to the middle management level, which is slowly moving up from below. "At the top management level, the proportion of native East Germans has fallen from 6.8 to 3.7 percent, excluding Berlin even from 4.5 to 1.9 percent," it says in explanations of the results.

Some of the figures had already been presented at an event in Leipzig in the spring.