The number of pensioners who receive basic security in addition to their pension is increasing. According to the DRV, the reason for this phenomenon is a new tax allowance regulation.
More and more pensioners are also receiving basic benefits. The number rose from around 414,000 at the end of 2020 to 469,000 in September last year.
The data from the Federal Statistical Office is available tagesschau.de before. The dpa news agency had previously reported on this, citing an evaluation by the Federal Statistical Office for the AfD in the Bundestag.
Effects of one Tax allowance regulation
According to the German Pension Insurance (DRV), the increase is mainly due to the effects of a tax-free allowance regulation, a DRV spokeswoman explained to the dpa. These allowance regulations were introduced with the basic pension that started at the beginning of 2021. The aim was for people with particularly low wages to receive retirement benefits above the basic security.
Since January 2021, anyone who has made contributions for employment, education or care for at least 33 years but has earned particularly little can claim an additional allowance when applying for basic old-age benefits. In 2021, up to 223 euros of the pension remained exempt from basic security, and in 2023 up to 251 euros.
“Anyone whose income was previously just above a basic security entitlement can become eligible for the new (annually increasing) allowance,” said the spokeswoman. “This explains the increase in numbers.”
The numbers are rising
All people whose income is not sufficient to cover living costs can apply for basic security in old age. The standard rate corresponds to that of basic security. An increasing number of seniors are dependent on basic security in old age, the president of the social association VdK, Verena Bentele, recently complained in the “Rheinische Post”.
According to statisticians, in 2010, 283,000 pensioners received basic security in old age. Five years later there were already over 414,000 and at the end of 2022 around 454,000. Of these, 249,000 were women and 205,000 men. The DRV spokeswoman said: “With a total of around 16.3 million recipients of an old-age pension (around 16.2 million at the end of 2020/2021), this corresponds to a basic security rate of around 2.8 percent (at the end of 2020/2021 around 2.6 /2.7 percent).
But overall, the number of seniors with basic security in old age – not just those with pensions – has been increasing in recent years. At the end of 2020, more than 564,000 people in Germany were dependent on basic state security. At this point, that was the highest value at the end of the year since the service was introduced in 2003, and at the end of 2022 it was even 659,000. By September 2023, the number had climbed to almost 689,000, of which around 297,000 were men and 392,000 women.
economics Grimm wants to limit pension at 63
The economist Veronika Grimm has meanwhile spoken out in favor of making “retirement at 63” only possible for people with endangered health. “Early retirement without deductions should be possible if there are health reasons,” the economist told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
The current regulation on “pension at 63” creates an incentive for many people to retire earlier, with or without deductions. “High earners in particular make use of this. This exacerbates the shortage of skilled workers,” complained Grimm.
Grimm criticized that “many pension gifts” had been distributed in recent years. This is one of the reasons why the federal subsidy for pension insurance increased from 77 to 112 billion euros annually between 2003 and 2021. The baby boomer generation is now approaching retirement. Grimm demanded that the retirement age should be adjusted to life expectancy.