A COUPLE WALKS PASSED A DESTROYED BICYCLE IN A WITTENBERGE STREET IN EASTERN GERMANY, 2003-07-06 (photo)

A couple walks passed an abandoned and wrecked bicycle on July 6, 2003, on a street of Wittenberge, a depressed eastern German city that has lost a third of its population in the last decade. Depopulation is a problem plaguing hundreds of towns and cities throughout the formerly communist east as nearly two million people have left the depressed region in the 14 years - mainly because there are no jobs. Some places may turn into ghost towns in coming decades, demographic experts warn. TO GO WITH FEATURE STORE BC-GERMANY-DEPOPULATION REUTERS/Manuela Hartling