As of: March 18, 2024, 11:04 a.m
By: Lars-Eric Nievelstein
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The majority of statutory pensions in Germany are below the poverty line.
The Sahra Wagenknecht alliance is calling for political intervention.
The government sees it differently.
Berlin – A new conflict is emerging in the traffic light coalition regarding pensions.
According to the Greens, the so-called pension package II, which Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) and Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) recently announced, does not provide the necessary relief.
A request from the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance shows how urgently such a thing is needed.
This showed that millions of Germans receive less than 1,100 euros from their statutory pension.
This would put them below the poverty line.
Poverty line in Germany (Destatis) |
1,250 euros |
|---|---|
Pensioners who receive less than 1,100 euros in monthly statutory pension |
10.1 million |
Proportion of Germans who make private provisions for old age |
47 percent (age group 18 to 24) |
Statutory pensions are not enough – 10.1 million Germans are slipping into old age poverty
Overall, this number affects more than half (54.3 percent) of statutory pensions in Germany.
As the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs announced in response to a request from BSW, there are around 10.1 million people who receive less than 1,100 euros per month.
The Editorial Network Germany (RND) first reported.
Party leader Wagenknecht criticized that millions of people would be forced into poverty in old age.
According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), the poverty line throughout Germany is 1,250 euros per month.
Sahra Wagenknecht at the 157th session of the German Bundestag in the Reichstag building.
The majority of statutory pensions in Germany are below the poverty line.
The Sahra Wagenknecht alliance is calling for changes.
© IMAGO / Future Image
Furthermore, 12.4 million pensioners fall below the limit of 1,300 euros per month (66.6 percent) and 15.1 million fall below the 1,600 euros per month limit (81.1 percent).
For all figures, the Federal Social Office relied on current pension insurance statistics.
“If more than half of the state’s statutory pensions are below 1,100 euros, then Labor Minister Heil’s promise to permanently fix the pension level at today’s level is not a promise, but a mockery of the people,” explained Wagenknecht.
She called for “citizens to have more influence on the future of their pensions.”
The Federal Ministry of Social Affairs was a little less concerned, after all Germans can still make private provisions.
The younger generation is more likely to rely on private provision
In fact, insurers repeatedly recommend basing your own retirement provision on three pillars: company, private and statutory provision.
A survey by the insurer Axa showed that the younger generation in particular has already internalized this - at least to some extent.
47 percent of 18 to 24 year olds make private provisions for old age.
In the 25 to 34 age group it is 63 percent.
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However, around a third of Germans (32 percent) are saving less since the war in Ukraine has been raging.
Another third stated that they did not make any private provisions at all.
Those who make provisions do so with rather small amounts.
However, the awareness of precaution is there.
59 percent said in the Axa survey that they would like to save more.
However, their finances wouldn't allow that.
Low statutory pensions are not an indication of actual poverty in old age
The Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) told Wagenknecht that it “basically cannot infer a low retirement income” from a low old-age pension in the statutory pension insurance.
Pension recipients have additional income, for example from “company pensions, income from partners or resulting claims for survivor benefits,” the RND quoted a spokesman for the German Pension Insurance as saying.
Wagenknecht nevertheless called for citizens to have more control over their retirement provision.
The BSW chairwoman demanded that a referendum on the pension system should take place in the 2025 federal election.
“It should be about a fair system in which all citizens finally pay.”
“All” citizens would also include civil servants - according to experts, such an integration would initially have a negative impact on the pension pots because the pensions would be much higher and would put more of a burden on the pension pots than relieve them.
Pension package II is intended to stabilize income in old age
The traffic light parties recently agreed on a compromise on pension package II.
This is based on two pillars - firstly, the pension level should remain stabilized at the current level and secondly, it should find a way into the law.
Profits earned on the capital market are intended to provide financing.
This agreement has already drawn criticism.
“I hope that the FDP does not support this,” said Franziska Brandmann, federal chairwoman of the Young Liberals, to Maybrit Illner on ZDF.
“You, Mr. Heil, are completely missing the concept.”