More people to move into cities in Germany

Amid a national trend of population decline and aging, more people would move to live in big cities in Germany, challenging management of urban areas, a study found on Tuesday. In coming years, number of new citizens in some German major metropolitan areas would be more than 500,000, said Cologne Institute for Economic Research in a release. The institute forecasted that the strongest influx would be towards Munich area, where population would rise by 24 percent to 3.25 million in 2030. In the capital area of Berlin/Potsdam, population would increase by 14.6 percent to 4.04 million. "This is due to growing intention for study, diverse job oppotunities and influx of migration," said the institute. Demographic development in some eastern German cities such as Dresden and Leipzig would be in line with the trend. East area as a whole, however, would lose a lot of people. This trend would put serious challenges to city management, said the institute, refering that housing shortage and lack of kindergarten was already a problem in many cities in Germany. Public transportation would also need extra investment for the growth of passengers. In contrast, infrastructure in rural areas where population decreased would be abandoned due to lack of capacity. In order to maintain public services in areas with sparse population, Germany would rely more on internet for new type of services such as e-learning and telemedicine, the institute said.