Poverty in Germany reached a record high in 2020

 

 According to a study by the German Parity Union for Social Welfare, the number of poor people in Germany reached a record level in 2020 - 13.4 million, which corresponds to 16.1% of the population. The poverty level in the country has been steadily rising since at least 2006 and no reversal is expected. At the same time, the gap between the richer southern provinces and the rest of the country is becoming more noticeable, according to the German national daily Die Welt.

 The head of the German Parity Union for Social Welfare, Ulrich Schneider, commented on the data as a "new, sad record" for Germany. However, according to the editorial board, they fit into the picture of previous years: "If you look at 2006, you can see a steady trend of increasing poverty, which does not seem to be interrupted in 2020. In 2006, 14% of Germany's population it was poor, "the paper said.

 As Schneider explained, there are various reasons why there has not been a really big jump in poverty statistics despite the pandemic. Approximately four-fifths of the population in 2020 was lucky not to lose their income due to the coronavirus. These include pensioners, civil servants and public sector employees. Other low-income citizens have already lived below the poverty line anyway, so they do not affect the statistics.

 The poverty rate, which increased by "only" 0.2% in 2020 compared to 2019, shows above all that the support measures taken by the German federal government and regional authorities have helped to prevent the emergence of even more poor people in the country. Part-time benefits, as well as unemployment benefits, have apparently saved many people from falling below the poverty line during the crisis, Schneider said.

The study, called "Poverty in Pandemic:", found that among those who lost their income as a result of the coronavirus crisis were primarily working people, including the self-employed. If in 2019 the poor are 8% of the working people as a whole and 9% of the self-employed, then according to a new study the number of poor working people is 8.7% and the self-employed - as much as 13%.

 Apart from these indicators, the socio-demographic risk group remains the same as in previous years - these are households with three or more children (30.9%) and single parents (40.5%). They continue to have the highest poverty rates of all households. Poverty also affects the unemployed (52%) and people with a low level of education (30.9%). The same applies to people with a migrant background (27.9%) and without German citizenship (35.8%).

 If we compare the situation in the different provinces of Germany in accordance with the data obtained, it can be seen that the difference in the level of wealth between Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, on the one hand, and the rest of Germany, on the other, has only widened. 

While in the two southern provinces of the country the poverty rate is 12.2%, which is significantly lower than the German average, in the rest the overall poverty rate is 17.7%. The difference between Bavaria with 11.6% of the poor and the province with the worst performance in this area - Bremen with 28.4% - is now 16.8%. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt also have extremely high poverty rates of around 20%,