After that, the population in Saxony fell slightly from 4,081,783 to 4,081,308. The increase due to the admission of refugees in 2015 will be used up again. The country returns to the old mode. The rural regions are emptying out again, the three big cities are growing.
And the current government has no prescription, not even an idea.
The municipalities belonging to the district lost a whopping 15,769 inhabitants in 2017 alone.
The three major cities gained almost the same number: 15,294.
The cities in the Ore Mountains are particularly affected - from Thalheim to Johanngeorgenstadt to Lößnitz with declines of between 2 and 3 percent. But there are also such developments in the district of Görlitz and in Saxon Switzerland and in some towns in the Vogtland.
And while most districts had to accept losses of around 0.7 percent overall, the two districts in the west of the state - Leipzig and northern Saxony - are doing relatively well with a decline of 0.1 percent. You benefit directly from the growth of the city of Leipzig and from the housing needs of many people who can no longer find affordable housing in Leipzig.
Cities close to Leipzig, such as Markkleeberg (plus 167 inhabitants), Markranstädt (+ 67), Naunhof (+ 89) and Zwenkau (+ 140), are of course feeling the effects of this. And it is very similar in northern Saxony - for example in Krostitz (+ 94), Taucha (+ 187) or Schönwölkau (+ 45).
But these are still the figures for 2017. Leipzig also grew by 10,892 inhabitants. The real setback in Leipzig's population development will only become visible at the beginning of 2018. According to the Leipzig statisticians, this balances out again over the course of the year. But the builders are not that fast, especially not when it comes to building inexpensive living space.
So at least the assumption is reasonable that more and more people who find work in Leipzig prefer to look for an apartment in the surrounding area. It could be that the cities connected to the S-Bahn will benefit from this. Admittedly, the growth rates of the population there are manageable - also in Eilenburg, which is fighting fiercely for Leipzig residents.
There was a population increase of 29 here in 2017, in Torgau it was 26. Delitzsch lost 21 again. Wurzen, which can actually be reached quickly by S-Bahn, also lost 73 residents. With Wurzen in particular, the suspicion resonates that the mood-mongering of some right-wing extremist groups is spoiling the stay of peace-loving people. Right-wing extremist threats have just as negative an impact on population development as they do on economic life.
Grimma has not yet been able to benefit from Leipzig's growth either (- 169), just like Borna (- 56) or Borsdorf (- 66).
The developments in the Leipzig area are still very inconsistent. It would be worth investigating why this is so. Is the distance to Böhlen (- 104) or Frohburg (- 108) actually (still) too great for those looking for an apartment? Would you rather be looking for an apartment right on the Leipzig city limits? Or is the SPNV/public transport system still too unattractive to look for a life further away from the compact city?
This will also cause some headaches in the MDV and ZVNL. Especially when the development of the housing market in Leipzig forces job seekers to find an apartment that does not make commuting to Leipzig too complicated.
In any case, the Saxon population statistics show that it has not been possible to stabilize peripheral regions such as Lusatia, the Ore Mountains or Vogtland in such a way that emigration ends there and young people stay there to promote development there. After all, it's the young people who are chasing attractive jobs and who are fueling the development of the workforce in Leipzig and Dresden.
The new Leipziger Zeitung No. 59 is here: Between aging and tightened police law: The East German, the completely incomprehensible being
