In the past five years the inflation The federal states in the east were hit much harder. As data from the Ifo Institute Dresden shows, Brandenburg the federal state that is most affected by the inflation rate. Here the price increase was almost four percentage points higher than in Hamburg, where inflation had the lowest impact. The most important driver for these differences was housing costs, including the costs of water, electricity and fuel.
Nationwide, inflation was 21.8 percent in the period from 2020 to 2025. However, in Brandenburg it was 1.8 percentage points higher, in Bremen and Saxony by 1.7 percentage points and in Saxony-Anhalt by 1.6 percentage points. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia, the price increase was 0.8 and 0.6 percentage points higher than the national average.
In Hamburg is the Price increase Compared to the national average, however, it was significantly lower. Inflation there was 2.1 percentage points lower than the national average. In Schleswig-Holstein the inflation rate was also one percentage point below the average, Hesse was 0.8 percentage points below and Saarland 0.7 percentage points. With a minus of 0.6 percentage points compared to the German average, Berlin is the only federal state in the east with below-average inflation.
Goods and services are price drivers in the East
Bavaria, Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia are in the consumer prices However, very close to the national average. In these countries, inflation only differed by 0.5 percentage points compared to the average. In addition to the high housing costs, the above-average price increases in Brandenburg and Saxony are particularly due to the areas of goods and Services attributed. These include hairdressers, care or insurance companies.
The two factors also explain Berlin’s special role in the east: other goods and services only increased slightly above average here, while housing costs lagged behind the development. According to the Ifo Institute, the rent cap also contributed to this.
