“Sensational”, “phenomenal” or “brilliant” – there are numerous adjectives of this kind that are missing this time when the Minister of the Interior presented the Statistical Yearbook. Normally, Joachim Herrmann (CSU) can refer to one superlative after the other at the appointment, as anyone who has followed the presentations of the mammoth data over the years knows. The compendium from the State Statistical Office in Fürth measures Bavaria in numbers, the basis is partly the current year and the previous year – both years in which the Free State suffered from the effects of the pandemic.
Some dents now appear in curves and diagrams that were otherwise hardly known; However, one or the other race to catch up in 2021 is also underway. Herrmann spoke of a series of positive news on Thursday: “The economy, which has been badly hit by the pandemic in 2020, and the labor market in Bavaria are clearly on the road to recovery.”
The population in Bavaria is still growing. At the end of September 2021, a good 13.2 million people lived here; that is an increase of well over half a million within ten years. In 2020 there was only a small increase of around 15,000 inhabitants. In the first half of the year, when the coronavirus hit the country, statisticians even recorded a temporary shrinkage, by 1,171 people. This was primarily due to the lack of immigration from abroad and from other federal states.
In the meantime, significantly more people are migrating again. Herrmann sums it up: “Bavaria is growing and remains attractive as the new center of life for people from Germany and abroad.” Incidentally, forecasts by the State Office assume an increase of another half a million people over the next two decades. However, it varies greatly from region to region; it often even differs from place to place Shrink and wax; Local politicians can adjust to this with the help of such forecasts in the infrastructure.
Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann says about the numbers of corona deaths: “Anyone who still denies that there is Corona or that the virus is played down is turning a blind eye to reality.”
(Photo: Uli Deck / dpa)
128,764 children were born in 2020, the strongest birth cohort in the Free State to date since 1997. 143,367 people died last year. In the current year, too, the number of deaths exceeded the number of births. This long-standing deficit is now being compensated again by the positive net migration.
In connection with the pandemic, the cause of death statistics also provide information. Five percent of those who died in 2020, i.e. 7222 women and men, “demonstrably died of Corona”. This was a more frequent individual diagnosis than heart attack or lung cancer, and it was also much more common than death by suicide or traffic accident.
Nine out of ten corona deaths were 70 years or older. This speaks “a clear language that leaves no doubt about the danger of the virus,” emphasized Herrmann. “Anyone who still denies that there is Corona or that the virus is played down is turning a blind eye to reality.” The best possible safety can only be offered by vaccination.
Especially the “vacation at home” had increased
The health crisis is clearly evident in the figures for the economy, but the lows of 2020 have often been ironed out a little recently. Bavaria’s industry, for example, recorded a production increase of 8.6 percent from January to September 2021 compared to the same period in the previous year; Nevertheless, it is still below the level of 2019.
In tourism, too, Herrmann recognizes “positive trends” in guest arrivals and overnight stays, and again more foreign guests. Last year especially the “vacation at home” increased, from Germany and Bavaria itself. Recently, however, tourism regions reported that a new problem was emerging: Staff who broke away in the first year of the crisis continue to stay away. And the interior minister had to announce on Thursday: “Due to the current corona development, it cannot be ruled out that the upswing in tourism will unfortunately be slowed down again.”
The current unemployment rate is more encouraging: 2.9 percent in October, the nationwide peak value (Germany-wide: 5.2 percent). In 2020, the total in Bavaria was 3.7 percent. Herrmann praised the former federal government from the Union and SPD for the heavily used short-time allowance, this decision “has proven to be absolutely right and wise”. The recovery afterwards was quickly felt.
The President of the Bavarian State Office for Statistics, Thomas Gößl, is convinced that more statistics are needed, not less.
(Photo: Rolf Poss)
At the end of 2020 there were almost 6.6 million apartments in Bavaria, the stock increased further in 2020, but the growth seems manageable. With regard to population development and prognoses, conclusions can be drawn from such data in the yearbook as to the extent to which improvements or progress are required on the political side. Herrmann defined the statistical work as an “officially audited basis for political decisions and important planning aid”. In the pandemic in particular, “reliable and secure data and facts are of paramount importance”.
Thomas Gößl, President of the State Office for Statistics, added, in view of the “flood of information that we are faced with every day, we don’t need less, but more official statistics”. The yearbook can can be downloaded and ordered from the authority’s website.