Risk of poverty in Germanyin a European comparison – Results from EU-SILC 2006
WIESBADEN– As reported by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), an average 16% of the population in the European Union (EU) were at risk of poverty in 2005, that is three percentage points more than in Germany(13%).
In Luxembourg, the risk-of-poverty threshold for people living alone is EUR 17,808 per year, which is nearly twice as much as in Germany(EUR 9,370 per year). In the Scandinavian EU member states, 35% (Denmark), 30% (Sweden) and 24% (Finland) of the 18 to 24 year olds live below the poverty threshold, which is above average (in the EU: 20%; in Germany: 15%). In the ten new member states which acceded on 1 May 2004, only every tenth (10%) pensioner is at risk of poverty, whereas in Germanyit is about every eighth (13%) and in the European Union nearly every sixth (16%).
All over Europe, unemployment increases the poverty risk. In Germany, 43% of the unemployed are at risk of poverty (EU: 41%; euro area: 38%; ten new member states: 47%). The economically active population in Germanyis at a lower risk of poverty when compared with the EU as a whole. In Germany, only every twentieth person (5%) aged 16 or over is at risk of poverty despite being in employment, while on an EU average it is about every thirteenth (8%), in the euro area about every fifteenth (7%) and in the ten new member states about every eleventh (9%).
For further information please call: Bonn Branch Office, Silvia Deckl, tel: (+49-1888) 644-8697,
