Press release No. 298 of 29 August 2017
WIESBADEN – In terms of the at-risk-of-poverty rate, the poverty risk was lowest in the southern Länder of Baden-Württemberg (11.9%) and Bayern (12.1%) in 2016. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that the highest poverty risk in all of Germany was recorded for Bremen (22.6%), followed by Sachsen-Anhalt (21.4%) and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (20.4%). The at-risk-of-poverty rate is an indicator measuring the relative income distribution.
At-risk-of- poverty rates differed markedly between the eastern and western parts of Germany in 2016. In the former territory (excluding Berlin), 15.0% of the population had a higher poverty risk, while 18.4% of the people living in the new Länder (including Berlin) were threatened by poverty.