2024-05-07 13:50:59
Millions of people in Germany have to get by on very little money. The proportion has decreased slightly overall. However, things look different in the 65 plus generation.
The proportion of seniors with very little money has increased in the past year, especially among women. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, a total of 18.1 percent of people aged 65 and over were at risk of poverty in 2023, 0.6 percentage points more than a year earlier. For women in this age group it was even 20.2 percent, 0.8 points more than in 2022.
Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht asked for the numbers from the 2023 microcensus. They break down the “at-risk-of-poverty rate” by age and other characteristics. The quota indicates the proportion of people who have less than 60 percent of the median equivalent income.
The median divides a data set into two equal halves; The equivalent income results from the total income of a household and the number and age of the people living in it, taking into account the savings effects of larger households.
Young people are particularly affected
Overall, this proportion fell slightly: 16.6 percent of the total population was considered at risk of poverty, down from 16.8 percent in 2022. Young people are affected more often than older people. In 2023, the rate was highest for those under 18 years of age (20.7 percent) and those between 18 and 25 years of age (25.0 percent).
However, the proportion in these age groups fell slightly – in contrast to the 65 plus generation. Older men are less likely to be at risk of poverty than women: their rate was 15.4 percent. But it also increased slightly, namely by 0.3 percent.
Wagenknecht sees the government as to blame
Wagenknecht called the values shameful and attributed them to the development of pensions: “Never before have so many people been affected by poverty in old age as under the traffic lights. That’s no wonder, because pensions have fallen in real terms three times in a row in recent years. Pensioners are among the big losers from inflation.”
As of July 1, 2022, pensions had risen by 5.35 percent in the west and by 6.12 percent in the east, followed in July 2023 by an increase of 4.39 percent in the west and 5.86 percent in the east. That’s a lot compared to previous years. However, prices rose even faster at times. The annual average inflation rate in 2022 was 6.9 percent, then in 2023 it was 5.9 percent.
Wagenknecht renewed her demand that the German pension system be designed like the Austrian one. In the neighboring country, many pensions are higher, but so are the contributions. “On the day of the next federal election, citizens should be able to decide directly about our pensions,” demanded the chairwoman of the new alliance, Sahra Wagenknecht. “We need a referendum on a pension system like in Austria.”