Enlarge image
Photo: DPA
About every fifth pensioner in Germany receives a pension of less than 500 euros per month.
This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs to a request from AfD MP René Springer.
Around 3.4 million old-age pensions were less than 500 euros at the end of 2020, which was 19.8 percent, according to the information.
Around half (49.5 percent) of the pensions were less than 1,000 euros a month.
A particularly large number of small pensions are paid in the West and to women.
Springer spoke of "decades of irresponsible pension policy."
more on the subject
Retirement provision: Minister Heil wants to stabilize pensions through more employees
Before the exam in Berlin: CSU calls for free accounts for pensioners
Changes 2022: Higher wages, higher taxes
In its reply, however, the Ministry notes that a low pension from the statutory pension insurance says little about the overall income in old age.
Small pensions result above all from very short contribution periods, for example due to "short employment biographies, as was often the case for women in the old federal states" or also due to the change in the insured status from statutory pension insurance to civil service pensions.
According to the government's Old Age Security Report, low pensions are "much more common" in high-income households.
There are a total of around 21 million pensioners in Germany.
This includes not only old-age pensioners, but also people who receive survivor's or disability pensions.
mike/dpa
