Second Social Report for the Free State of Saxony

Tasks

Social reporting is key to design social planning and policies in the German federal state of Saxony. It describes the different life situations of people in Saxony and thus all the resources and resulting options and limitations for action that influence the realization of life aspirations and participation. The second social report reviews, updates and supplements the first report from 2019 with the aim of providing a data-based inventory of the social situation in the districts and independent cities, in the 416 district municipalities and an analysis of urban-rural relationships. ifo Dresden was commissioned by the Saxon State Ministry of Social Affairs and Social Cohesion to analyze the social situation in Saxony's municipalities and cross-municipal spatial interrelationships.

Methods

ifo Dresden identified and clustered different types of communities, based on their characteristics, strengths, and needs. The main target was a data-driven and reliable basis for social planning and policies at the local level. Furthermore, the scope, causes as well as effects of the complex urban-rural relationships in Saxony were analyzed.

Data and Other Sources

The social report bases on administrative as well as self-compiled data at the level of the 419 cities and communities in the German state of Saxony.

Results

The aim of this project was to describe the social situation in Saxony more precisely below the district level, because higher aggregated data often obscure the differentiations that arise when looking at individual municipalities. In fact, it was found that for many characteristics that play a role in the quality of life "on the ground," even closely neighboring municipalities can differ greatly. This is particularly noteworthy because policy measures are often based on analyses that do not take these small-scale differences into account. Furthermore, it could be shown that rural areas in Saxony, which are typically regarded as disadvantaged or even "disconnected," have more favorable living conditions than urban areas in many respects. There is also a strong spatial differentiation with regard to the future prospects of individual communities - which are influenced in particular by demographic factors. This contradicts common assessments and should therefore also be taken into account in measures to create "equal living conditions".