Status: 09/19/2022 3:30 p.m
The proportion of children and young people in Germany who are considered at risk of poverty has been increasing for years. Last year it was 20.8 percent of minors – a new high.
Children and young people in Germany are increasingly at risk of poverty. Last year, the proportion of under-18s who were at risk of poverty according to the official definition rose to 20.8 percent and thus to the highest value of the so-called microcensus since 2015. parliamentary group, from which several media quote. At that time, the poverty risk rate for children and young people was 19.7 percent, and in 2020 it will be 20.4 percent.
According to the official definition, children are considered at risk of poverty if they live in households with less than 60 percent of the median income of the entire population.
The left calls for more basic child security
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch warned of a further deterioration in the situation for millions of children in Germany in view of the development. “Inflation and skyrocketing energy prices threaten another massive increase in child poverty,” Bartsch told the Augsburger Allgemeine, which was the first to report the figures. “We now need a protective shield for families in Germany,” demanded the parliamentary group leader. “They must not be the losers again after Corona.”
The governing coalition must “add a poverty-proof basic child security” to the third relief package, he demanded. The planned increase in child benefit by 18 euros is clearly not enough.
Ombudsman concerned about equal opportunities
Schleswig-Holstein’s ombudsman, Smiah El Samadoni, also emphasized in Kiel: “For children and young people, growing up in poverty means growing up without equal opportunities”. This starts with the question of early childhood education and the ability to finance daycare places and continues with the question of educational equity in schools and social participation.
On World Children’s Day on September 20, El Samadoni called for the participation of children and young people to be promoted: “World Children’s Day focuses on how we enable children and young people in our society to participate and secure their rights. Unfortunately, here in many areas still have a long way to go,” she said.