According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, the number of pensioners considered at risk of poverty has significantly increased and reached a new record high. The percentage of people aged 65 and older who are at risk of poverty rose from 18.4% in 2023 to 19.6% in the past year, representing an increase of around 300,000 people, or 1.2 percentage points, to a total of approximately 3.54 million.
The increase among pensioners is more pronounced than in the general population, where the at-risk-of-poverty rate decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 15.5%. A person is considered at risk of poverty if their net income is less than 60% of the median income. In 2024, this threshold was €1,378 per month for a single person and €2,893 per month for a household with two adults and two children under 14.
Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the BSW, criticized the current state of the pension system, calling it a “mega-problem.” She accused the SPD of being responsible for the rise in at-risk pensioners, stating that the CDU and AfD, while not offering stability, at least do not propose actual pension cuts.
Wagenknecht advocated for a pension system similar to Austria’s, where even civil servants and self-employed individuals contribute. “Then, pensioners who have worked their entire lives would, like our neighbors, have an average of around €800 more per month” she assured.