There are many different definitions of poverty both as everyday concepts and in scientific discourse. Poverty may be defined in absolute terms as a poverty line unrelated to place and time, with those being regarded as poor who do not have a minimum of essentials such as food, clothes or shelter. That concept is still used for developing countries; in the affluent societies, as they are called, absolute poverty seems to have been overcome except in a few groups (e.g. homeless people, street kids). In these societies poverty is defined in relative terms. Accordingly, a person is regarded as poor who is not supplied to a sufficient extent with certain resources as compared with the general standard of the society. The respective at-risk-of-poverty threshold is usually related to income.
According to the European Union, the at-risk-of-poverty rate is defined as the share of persons having to make do with less than 60% of the medium income (median) of the population. The calculations described in the following are based on the at-risk-of-poverty threshold at the level of the Federation. It is computed by means of the medium income in the whole of Germany (federal median). Thus the at-risk of poverty rates for the Federation and the Länder calculated in that way are based on a common at-risk-of-poverty threshold. The at-risk-of-poverty thresholds for Germany determined on the basis of the microcensus were Euro 764 in 2007 for a single-person household and Euro 1 605 for a household with two adults and two children. (information for interpreting the at-risk-of-poverty threshold)
Poverty risk varies among the Länder
The poverty risk in Germany differs by Länder. While in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern just under one fourth (24.3%) and in Sachsen-Anhalt well above one fifth (21.5%) of the population has less than 60% of the medium income of Germany at its disposal, this holds for only about one tenth of those living in the southern Länder Baden-Württemberg (10.0%) and Bayern (11.0%). According to the calculations, the total at-risk-of-poverty rate for Germany was 14.3% in 2007. Just below the value for all of Germany was Hamburg with 14.1%, just above it Nordrhein-Westfalen with 14.6%.
At-risk-of-poverty rate by age groups
There are notable differences in particular between the east and the west of Germany: while in the new Länder (including Berlin) 19.5% of the population was at risk of poverty, the rate was markedly lower in the former territory (excluding Berlin) with 12.9%. In the eastern part the at-risk-of-poverty rate was higher than in the western part for almost all age groups. Only in the group of persons from 65 years did the east of Germany show a lower rate of 9.3% than the west (11.9%). While the at-risk-of-poverty rate of women (13.5%) was higher in the western part than that of men (12.2%), no gender-specific differences could be discovered in the eastern part (19.5% for both male and female persons).
Who is affected most by poverty?
At-risk-of-poverty rate of single parents and their children
specially jobless persons and single parents with their children are at risk of poverty. However, there are considerable differences between the Länder again: while the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate of unemployed persons was shown for Baden-Württemberg with 40.3% in 2007, two thirds of all unemployed were at risk of poverty in Sachsen-Anhalt (66.0%). For persons living in households of single parents, the lowest rates were determined in the city states of Berlin (28.6%) and Hamburg (29.6%); the highest rate was recorded once again for Sachsen-Anhalt with 53.7%.
Regional perspective
The perspective changes when the calculation is not based on the common at-risk-of-poverty threshold which uses the federal median but on regional at-risk-of-poverty thresholds. These are computed by means of the medium income of the respective Land (Land median). This accounts for the differences existing between the income levels of the Länder, which are reflected for instance by the different average gross annual earnings in eastern and western Germany.
From that perspective, the differences between the at-risk-of-poverty rates of the Länder are much smaller. The at-risk-of-poverty rates determined from a "regional perspective" were highest in Hamburg (16.8%) and Bremen (15.2%) and lowest in Thüringen (12.9%) and Baden-Württemberg (13.0%) in 2007.
Author: Bettina Mertel – Federal Statistical Office
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