According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 13.1 million people in Germany (15.5% of the country's population) were at risk of poverty last year. This is just over one percentage point more than in 2023. At that time, this figure was 14.4 percent (12.1 million people), writes the public broadcaster ARD.
A person is considered to be at risk of poverty if they have less than 60% of the median income. In 2024 this threshold was 1,378 euros net per month for a person living alone in a household, and 2,893 euros for households with two adults and two children under 14.
One in five is at risk
Another figure released today by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden is that of people “at risk of poverty or social exclusion“. This category is broader than the group of pure risk of poverty, recalls the ARD.
In the EU, this category includes people who meet at least one of the following three conditions: income below the risk of poverty threshold, the household suffers from significant material and social deprivation or the person lives in a household with very low employment.
In 2024, around one fifth of the German population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion. According to the Federal Statistical Office, this is around 17.6 million people, or almost 21%. This figure has decreased slightly compared to the previous year, when around 17.9 million people (21.3%) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the publication added.
Five million people are particularly hard hit
Last year, around five million people (six percent) were particularly hard hit by poverty - for example because they could not pay their rent, mortgage or bills on time. Statisticians classify this group of people as “living in significant material and social deprivation“.
However, the proportion of people living with such a risk in Germany has decreased slightly compared to the previous year 2023, when they were 5.8 million people, or 6.9% of the country's population, the ARD also said.