East Germans know less about the European Union than their fellow Europeans and are have grown disenchanted with democracy, a survey published Tuesday indicated.

The Eurobarometer 2006 poll in Germany, conducted by the German representation of the European Commission, showed that Germans from the former communist east finished last in EU knowledge among 30 countries surveyed, including five nations that are not EU member states.

Nearly one in two east Germans -- 49 percent -- thought the EU still had 15 member states. The bloc has comprised 25 members since May 2004.

And 46 percent wrongly believed that Germans did not vote in European Parliament elections.

Sixty-five percent of easterners said they were disappointed with German-style democracy, while about the same percentage of westerners said they were satisfied with the German political system.

But young easterners proved more optimistic than their western cousins, with 87 percent of students in the east saying they expected an improvement in their life in the future versus 62 percent of western students.

Eurobarometer said it was the first time it had conducted separate polls among east and west Germans.