According to the findings of a study commissioned by the Capital magazine Munich is the city offering the best economic prospects in Germany. Stuttgart came second followed by Dusseldorf. The study analyzed how sixty major German cities have developed since the year 2004 and in which way parameters such as economic growth, occupation, population and purchasing power will presumably evolve until 2013. The ranking was established by Feri which is a renowned economic research institute.
According to the extrapolations Munich´s economic output will grow by 26 percent by 2013 and the number of jobs will increase by almost 56.000. GDP will rise by 25 percent in Stuttgart and Dusseldorf. The tail-ender Schwerin will grow by just 11 percent with occupation virtually stagnating there. “Globalization will increase the differences between major and minor economic centres”, says Mr. Wolfgang Kubatzki who is an economist with Feri. Thus, this time with Hamburg, Cologne and Frankfurt in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively the six top ranks are occupied exclusively by big cities.
The only exception to the rule is Berlin: as was already the case two years ago the capital lags far behind and only comes in 32nd place. “Berlin is lacking a modern and productive industrial basis”, is the opinion voiced by Mr. Kubatzki to the Capital magazine. The most powerful East German city is Dresden which came 16th. The most successful shooting star comes from the Eastern part too: Thuringia´s capital Erfurt rose from place 52 to 36 which was mainly due to its focusing on mechanical engineering. The biggest loser is Bochum which fell from 38 to 50 and struggles with problems due to job cuts.
Compared with other selected European major cities, which were also examined by the Feri institute, the performance of the German leading cities is just average. Among major conurbations Munich is in 14th place – behind the strongest boomer Dublin, but also behind capitals like Helsinki, Madrid, Warsaw, Budapest, Prague, Stockholm, Copenhagen or London.
The detailed report by the Capital magazine will be published in its 2/2007 edition which will be available from January 4th. A table with the ranking of all cities examined during the study is available on the internet. 