Twenty-two years after the reunification of Germany – completed on 3 October 1990, nearly 11 months after the Berlin Wall came down – the differences between the two halves of the country are still apparent.

Mindsets are slow to change. According to a survey published by the daily Bild last week, one west German in five has never set foot in the east, and one in 10 of their Ossi ("Eastie") counterparts has never travelled west. Three-quarters of the population think there are "different mentalities" between east and west. Only two-thirds of Wessis (but nearly four-fifths in the east) would consider marrying someone from the other side.

Two-thirds of those surveyed are quite indifferent to the fact that both President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel are Ossis.

In economic terms there are still significant differences, albeit on the wane. At the time of reunification the gross domestic product per capita in the east was €9,400 ($11,800), as opposed to €22,000 in the west. Since then per capita revenue in the east has more than doubled to reach €23,700, whereas in the west it has only increased by half to €33,400 (still 30% ahead of the east). Thanks to various subsidies, the differences in purchasing power are smaller.

Nor is unemployment evenly spread, with nearly 10% of the active population out of work in the east (11.8% in Berlin), as against just under 6% in the west. But the latter figure is misleading, because Bavaria enjoys almost full employment (only 3.5% jobless) whereas the situation in Bremen is similar to Berlin.

Some of the easterners who moved west have since "gone home", often due to the lower cost of housing, but not in significant numbers. In the past 20 years the east has lost a tenth of its population (dropping from 18.1 to 16.3 million), whereas the west has gained 6% (up from 61.9 to 65.5 million).

• This article appeared in the Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from Le Monde