According to an analysis, more than every fifth child under the age of 18 was at risk of poverty in Germany last year. There are 2.88 million girls and boys, as the Bertelsmann Foundation announced on Thursday in Gütersloh. “Young people who grow up in poverty suffer daily from lack, renunciation and shame and at the same time have significantly worse future prospects,” said Bertelsmann expert Anette Stein. The foundation warned that the current crises and price hikes are exacerbating the problem.
In the evaluation, children and young people are considered at risk of poverty if their family has less than 60 percent of the average household income. According to the foundation, the proportion of children in households who receive social benefits also indicates the risk of poverty. This group has grown significantly for the first time in five years: Last summer, around 1.9 million minors lived in households with social benefits. The foundation explained that the increase was mainly due to the children and young people who had fled from Ukraine.
According to the study, there are also strong regional differences: while in Roth, Bavaria, the rate of affected children was only three percent, in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, it was 42 percent. Overall, according to the analysis, children with single parents and with two or more siblings are affected by poverty to an above-average extent.
In addition to minors, 1.55 million young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 are at risk of poverty. This corresponds to about every fourth person in this age group, which therefore has the highest risk of poverty of all age groups. The high rate shows that various measures for young adults such as student loans or housing benefit do not work well together, Stein criticized. “Without support from their parents, many would not be able to secure their livelihood. Young people’s opportunities therefore continue to depend too much on their parents.”
“Child poverty is not fate, but the result of decades of political omissions”
In response to the new figures, the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband called for an immediate increase in basic security benefits by at least 200 euros a month. “Child poverty is not fate, but the result of decades of political omissions,” criticized Ulrich Schneider, general manager of the joint association. He accused politicians of poverty policy ignorance.
The social association VdK Germany called for a new start in the fight against child poverty. VdK President Verena Bentele said that there is a long list of family policy benefits that are intended to secure children financially but do not effectively prevent poverty, according to Bentele. “The most important family policy benefits urgently need to be bundled into one single benefit: basic child security.”
The German Children’s Fund warned that on the one hand the material security of children and their families should be considered, but on the other hand also their provision in the areas of health, mobility, leisure time and social participation. “The necessary financial means must already be taken into account in the financial planning of the federal government,” said federal manager Holger Hofmann.