Former GDR catching up with west of country. - Since 1991, more than €1,300 billion have been transferred from West Germany to East, says a report by the Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) published to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. GDP per inhabitant in the Eastern Länder, which, in 1991, was only about a third of Western German GDP per inhabitant, has grown today to 70%. The Eastern average is expected to catch up with the weakest Western Länder within 10 years, and, in 2019, when the second solidarity pact governing the current transfers, expires, there will be no need for a third, says Michaël Hüther, Director of the Institut IW, Cologne. In addition to meeting the technological challenges, the former East Germany will now have to curb the inexorable flow to the West since the fall of the Wall, and in particular it will have to retain its young, well qualified people, if it is not to suffer from a lack of qualified labour. Among young people aged between 14 and 19, 80% say they are German, rather than West or East German, a recent GfK survey found, although those from the former East Germany still feel that those in the West have a certain reticence towards them. (I.L.)