Facts Lutherstadt Eisleben

Selected Key Data

Population

More and more inhabitants, many of them young, subsequently left the town in search of work. The desire for an own home in the green belt also hastened the flight to the surrounding areas. The birth rate fell. At the turn of the millennium, Eisleben registered a decline in population of around 17 percent, with a continuous rise in the average age. Lutherstadt Eisleben achieved its highest population figures in 1950: 33,173.

Municipal Boundaries

Because of increased suburbanisation from the early 1990s, the cities have lost a considerable proportion of their inhabitants and tax revenues to the surrounding communities. In order to dilute the impact of these losses, a gradual process of incorporation has increased the municipal areas in size, sometimes significantly so.

The coloured shape on the map symbolises the expansion of the city in 1990, the outer line shows the boarder of the municipal area of 2010.

Housing Situation

The migration of inhabitants reflected in the vacancy levels of the housing. This stood at 10 percent in 2001, 36 of which lay in housing estates of prefabricated housing. In 2005 25 percent of the buildings in the compact, fragmented Old Town stood empty – a dramatic situation. The greatest levels of vacancy in the Old Town concerned buildings the other side of Markt and Plan, as well as buildings in the transit streets. Derelict and crumbling buildings represented an acute risk for the retention of the world heritage status of the Luther Memorials. In the meantime the appearance of the Old Town has altered considerably.

The majority of the historic buildings have been renovated, forming the backdrop for the tourists from around the world that pour into the Lutherstadt each year.

Housing Situation in Lutherstadt Eisleben (2/2010):
Housing Stock: 12,300
Surplus Housing: 2,100 / 17 Percent
Housing Demolitian since 2001/02: 550

Industry

The fall of the Wall in 1989 and German reunification brought immense upheaval to Lutherstadt Eisleben. Throughout the Mansfeld region, dependent upon copper mining and the smelting of the “red gold”, the closure of large swathes of the Mansfeld industrial combine Wilhelm Pieck and the agricultural operation Walter Schneider, the largest fruit producing co-operative in the region, meant that unemployment soon skyrocketed. Over 10,000 jobs were lost in one stroke. In 2001 the unemployment rate still stood at 22.5 percent, way above the average for the state as a whole, in spite of the arrival of new companies and the expansion of the service sector.

The diagram illustrates the radical economic structural reform: Large industrial combines were forced to close, and even where smaller companies came along and still produce today, the often significantly increased output figures require only a fraction of the workforce once needed.

Relocating and Commuting

In the 1990s, suburbanisation affected all the IBA cities. At the same time, people, especially those from the former industrial centres, began to move to West Germany. The populations of the large cities of Halle (Saale) and Magdeburg have increased minimally in recent times, mainly due to migration from Saxony-Anhalt. In the meantime, the improved transportation network allows for longer journeys to and from work and the number of commuters is climbing.

The interactive tool "Relocating and commuting" visualises this range of topics for all IBA cities.

Leibniz-Institut für Länderkunde (IfL), Leipzig 2010 Data: Günter Herfert, design/programming: Sebastian Specht

Sources for the statistics: Ministry of Regional Development and Transport Saxony-Anhalt; Raumbeobachtungssystem Sachsen-Anhalt (RABE); Statistisches Landesamt Sachsen-Anhalt; Lutherstadt Eisleben urban development plan 2001 and 2007; GDR statistics of 1989; www.iba-monitor.de; Status: 11/2009