Notes

Poverty is principally understood to be a lack of resources and opportunities for people to live and shape their lives in a way that would ordinarily be possible based on the historical wealth level in the respective society.

The poverty risk is expressed using the at-risk-of-poverty rate. It is an indicator of relative income poverty and is defined as the proportion of persons with an equivalised income of less than 60% of the average household income.

In 2021 the at-risk-of-poverty rate in Germany reached a 15-year high of 16.9% with 17.3 million people affected by poverty. Young people are especially affected by poverty: the at-risk-of-poverty rate is 21.3% for under-18s and 25.8% for 18- to 25-year-olds – 24.7% for young men and 27% for young women. Despite the existence of the German social security system, 49.4% of unemployed individuals are at risk of being affected by poverty. Single-parent households are particularly at risk of poverty, with an at-risk-of-poverty rate of 42.3%.

Families with three or more children also face a much higher risk of poverty. Their at-risk-of-poverty rate is 32.2%. Non-German nationals (35.3%) and individuals with an immigration background (28.1%) are also at a much higher risk of poverty. 

More children with disabilities grow up in single-parent households (31%) than young people without disabilities (20%), and a disproportionately high number (25%) live in families in receipt of social benefits.

The regional distribution of poverty varies greatly across Germany. The worst value by far is found in Bremen, where poverty now affects one in four people, followed by Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia with poverty levels of between 18.5% and 19.5%. At the other end of the spectrum are Bavaria (11.9%) and Baden-Württemberg (12.3%) with the lowest poverty rates by a wide margin.

Further factors that correlate with poverty include in particular:

• Unemployment: 2,900,000 people of working age in Germany were unemployed at the start of 2021. 
• Disease: Segments of the population affected by poverty are more likely to be impaired by diseases and health complaints, are more likely to rate their own health and health-related quality of life as poorer, and are more at risk of early mortality.
• Excess debt: The rate of over-indebtedness in Germany in 2022 was around 8.48%, or around 5.88 million people aged 18 and over with excessive debt. Roughly 3.59 million of these are men.

• Bundesregierung (2021): Lebenslagen in Deutschland - Der Sechste Armuts- und Reichtumsbericht der Bundesregierung, BT-Drucksache 19/29815 (last accessed: 10 July 2023).
• Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk (2023): Kinderreport 2023 – Kinderarmut in Deutschland (last accessed: 10 July 2023).
• Nationaler Aktionsplan gegen Kinderarmut: Neue Chancen für Kinder in Deutschland (2023). Federal Cabinet decision, 6 July 2023 (last accessed: 10 July 2023).
• Paritätischer Gesamtverband (2020): Gegen Armut hilft Geld. Der Paritätische Armutsbericht 2020 (last accessed: 10 July 2023).
• Paritätischer Gesamtverband (2023): Zwischen Pandemie und Inflation. Paritätischer Armutsbericht 2022 – 2nd revised edition, March 2023 (last accessed: 10 July 2023).