At the end of 2015, roughly 398,000 people in Germany received subsistence payments in accordance with the 3rd Chapter of the Twelfth Book of the Social Code (SGB XII on public assistance). The number of recipients rose by 3.9% on a year earlier.
66% of the recipients of payments lived in institutions such as residential establishments or care homes. 34% lived mainly in single-person households and not in institutions of the above types.
The average age of the people entitled to payments who did not live in institutions was significantly lower (44 years) than that of the people living in institutions. On average, the latter were 55 years old.