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FIGURE 9. Age-sex distribution, East Germany and the United States, 1970


FIGURE 10. Age-sex distribution, East and West Germany, 1969


females. The percentage of males and females in the East German population has developed as follows since 1939:

Males Females
1939 48.9 51.1
1946 42.5 57.5
1950 44.4 55.6
1960 45.1 54.9
1970 46.1 53.9

As is the case elsewhere in the world, the proportion of females is higher in urban areas than in the nation as a whole and lower in rural areas. Thus, the population of the Berlin (East) Bezirk is 55.3% female, while that of rural Neubrandenburg is 52.6%. Although the shortage of males is greater in the over-40 age group than among the younger population group, the number of males between the ages 20 and 30 is strikingly low.

The proportion of the East German population in the working-age bracket declined from 67.5% in 1939 to 57.8% in 1967 and has stabilized at that figure since then (Figure 11). Of those in the nonworking ages, 22.6% were children under 15 years of age and 19.5% were pensioners. In 1970 about 9,866,000 belonged to the working-age group, of which 8,218,000 were employed in the labor force. Because of the severe labor shortage, women comprised 48% of the labor force in 1970. The continuing serious labor shortage and the high participation of women in the work force places East Germany significantly ahead of other industrialized countries in terms of economically active population.


FIGURE 11. Working-age population relative to total population, selected years, 1939-70


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