2023-10-01 15:04:28
Some pensioners in Germany are dependent on basic security, but most were able to earn an adequate retirement income. Image: Picture Alliance
There’s a lot of work around skewed figures on poverty in old age. This harms those who are affected. The head of the German Pension Insurance writes in a guest article how high the risk of poverty really is.
In the current public discussion, the actual risks of poverty in old age are often overshadowed by greatly simplified model calculations. This damages trust in the stability of the pension system and unnecessarily unsettles people.
Living in poverty in old age – if you follow the current debate, this scenario now also threatens a large group of full-time workers. The impression is given that even decades of full-time work no longer protect against the risk of poverty in retirement and that a pension that is too low is becoming increasingly unavoidable.
However, this representation is not only factually incorrect. It also obscures the actual risks of poverty in old age. This is precisely why it can have a detrimental effect on the willingness of the various actors to counteract the actual risks of poverty in old age through political, economic or personal decisions – be it unemployment, low wages or long periods without full-time employment.
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