Urban Problems in Germany

This world is filled with many social problems; a lot of them are nearly impossible to come up with a solution for. Many of the world's social problems such as poverty, violence, pollution, prostitution, AIDS, drug abuse, and unemployment, some of the most widespread and unfortunate social problems, are more prevalent in our world's cities and urban areas. This is true not because people that live in urban areas are less honorable, but cities, and more urbanized areas attract people who don't meet the social norm and have and/or want to be around people that are in the same situation as they are. Artists, musicians, actors, and many assorted personality types inhabit cities to get away from the slow suburban lifestyle; and because of these reasons cities' concentration of people is becoming greater and greater every year. This paper will concentrate on a couple of the urban problems that are common in the country of Germany such as poverty/unemployment and homelessness, and prostitution. This paper will also be observing these social problems from a functionalist perspective. There has actually been a significant increase of poverty in Germany. Federal Health Minister Fischer has stated: "Poverty has become a social issue. This is not changed by the fact that it is often left unmentioned or even suppressed. Poverty has become a risk to life that now reaches right into the heart of our society." In 1998 some 2.7 million people were dependent on social welfare in Germany, including over 1 million children; which is becoming more and more of a problem in Germany; there has been a rapid increase in child poverty. In total, 14.2 percent of children nationally, one in every seven, are living in poverty. In western Germany, the figure is 12.4 percent; in the areas constituting the former East Germany, 23.7 percent of children live in poverty. In many East German cities, the figure is well over 30 percent. The total in the German capital city of Berlin is