A week by the sea or in the mountains – for many in Germany this is just a dream. Almost 22 percent of the population cannot afford a holiday trip. It is particularly difficult for single parents and retirees.
More than one in five Germans cannot afford to go on vacation for a week. This is the result of data from the European Union’s statistical office (Eurostat), which the left-wing faction in the Bundestag asked for.
Accordingly, last year 21.9 percent of the population had too little money to be able to afford a one-week vacation trip, the editorial network Germany (RND) reported.
single parent hits it most often
As the data shows, this figure has increased compared to 2021, when it was two percentage points less (19.9 percent). According to the data, single parents are most often affected. In the “single person with dependent children” category, 42 percent are unable to go on vacation for a week.
Overall, households with children are more frequently affected (23.4 percent) than households without children (20.7 percent). But pensioners are also affected. In the category “An adult aged 65 and over”, 28.7 percent were unable to afford a week’s vacation last year. The year before it was 27.3 percent.
Bartsch: “Sad finding”
The parliamentary group leader of the left in the Bundestag, Dietmar Bartsch, spoke of a “sad finding”. “These figures show how deeply Germany is socially divided,” he told the RND newspapers. “Everyone should have the opportunity to go on vacation for at least one week a year.”
The left demands “holidays for everyone,” emphasized the parliamentary group leader and added as a demand to the traffic light coalition: “This requires higher wages, adequate pensions, a consistent anti-inflation policy and a poverty-proof basic child security in Germany.”