Demographics and urban-rural divide: Women in rural areas should work more

From a material point of view, people live well in the countryside, although family structures tend to have a more traditional distribution of roles between men and women. This emerges from a data analysis by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). The income differences between metropolises, densely populated rural areas and rural regions are comparatively small, even though the cost of living is higher in the cities.

The median income of people in large cities, urban districts and rural districts was 1,889 euros net per month in 2025 and was similar in all three structural areas, said BiB director Katharina Spieß on Wednesday in Wiesbaden. This “median value” refers to individuals and is the income value that half of the population mathematically achieves at least.

“There is a larger gap in income between genders than between places of residence,” said Spieß. 60 percent of men in large cities and rural districts earned more than the median. Of women, on the other hand, only 42 percent earned more than the median income in large cities, and only 35 percent in rural districts.

The proportion of employable women in part-time work is particularly large in urban and rural districts, said Spieß. Especially where the proportion of baby boomers who will soon be retiring is high, “women have work potential that the study makes visible,” said Spieß.

The study also shows that there are a relatively large number of women in metropolitan areas who are not employed at all. This is due to the high proportion of immigrants there, said Harun Sulak, co-author of the study. A lack of language skills, a lack of professional qualifications, inadequate recognition of existing qualifications and unsecured childcare played a role here. “More integration work” needs to be done here.

However, immigration is significantly rejuvenating the population structure in the metropolises. Of the minors in large cities, 55 percent have a migrant background; in rural regions the figure is 30 percent. This is one of the reasons why the proportion of people over 65 in metropolitan areas is only 19 percent, while in rural districts it is 25 percent.

“The classic nuclear family primarily shapes urban and rural districts,” says the study. According to the survey, 25 million people in Germany live in so-called urban districts, 32 million in urban districts - i.e. less densely populated areas - and 26 million in even more sparsely populated rural districts.

With the planned abolition of mini-jobs and the restriction of free co-insurance for family members, the federal government wants to bring more money into the social security funds and work towards ensuring that women work less part-time and more full-time. How this will be received by voters in rural regions is a delicate question.