Economists have remeasured poverty in Germany. A lack of purchasing power is primarily a problem for the inhabitants of West German cities. Public money flows in the completely wrong direction.
when poverty in Germany is talk today, is no longer meant material distress, no longer hunger and physical suffering. The poor of today are not experiencing the deprivation that has always plagued the European population and continue to do so today in Africa and other parts of the world.
And yet poverty in Germany is always an issue. Poverty is the great unknown of society. "The Suspects" push them into the political debate.
There are many ideas about poverty risks in Germany that do not stand up to closer scrutiny. In many cases, for example, the fact that in the new federal states there is a greater danger of becoming poor than in the old ones. In fact, the income in the east is much lower than in the West, but there is also a higher price level in the West.
Purchasing power in NRW weaker than in Thuringia
As a result of purchasing power, the situation is somewhat different: the risk of being financially and socially dependent in Thuringia is lower than in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example. An even more differentiated picture emerges if one is not looking at individual federal states, but regions and counties.
The Institute of the German Economy Cologne (IW Cologne) has now submitted a detailed study on the subject. The analysis is entitled "Regional poverty in Germany. Identify risk groups, reorient policies ". The results of the study, which is the "world", are a matter of course: According to this, poverty is increasingly concentrated in Germany's metropolises and urban centers, in a way that is quite disturbing. Measured by the regional purchasing power of income, in some cities, a quarter of people are poor or at risk of poverty. In rural areas, on the other hand, poverty is scarce.
The IW researchers, Klaus-Heiner Röhl and Christoph Schröder, base their analysis on the poverty concept of the European Commission . As a poor, someone who has less than 60 percent of the median income is considered to be poor. This is the income that is exceeded or exceeded by half of the population. We are not concerned primarily with material deprivation, but with a lack of social participation.
For this reason, an arm is the one who can not afford to do things that are normal for a normal earner because of a low income: whether it is a Kinobesuch with the whole family, a new washing machine or a vacation trip.
In the earnings statistics, the East German federal states and regions mostly appear to be particularly vulnerable to poverty. "In East Germany, the income poverty rate of 19.1 percent is almost five percentage points higher than in West Germany," the authors of the study describe the general perception.
However, a considerably different picture emerges if the regionally different price levels are taken into account. The cost of rent, public transport, electricity or gas, fuel and even food are significantly different in the Federal Republic, and consequently the purchasing power of the earned euro.
In Bavaria is the most expensive and the cheapest place
The most expensive place in Germany is the Bavarian capital Munich. There, life is so expensive that a single is still considered poor with a monthly net income of 1128 euros. But not only is the most expensive place in Germany in the Free State, it is also the cheapest. In the likewise Bavarian Tirschenreuth a single is only from 823 euros poverty-endangered. In Germany, the poverty limit is 917 euros.
Now that would not be a major problem, the incomes would keep up with the prices. That's not the case. In Munich, on average, wages are much higher than in other regions. In many cases, however, this is not enough to compensate for the 37 per cent additional costs compared to Tirschenreuth. "In terms of income, only nine per cent of Munich's population are affected by poverty, but it is already 17.5 per cent as a percentage of purchasing power," explains economist Klaus-Heiner Röhl.
For a rich metropolis like Munich, this may be an unexpected or even a terrifyingly high value, but there are other cities in Germany where there is a lack of social participation and the risk of being suspended. According to the data, urban centers seem to become regular centers of poverty.
A problem is Bremerhaven. For economists in North Germany, the economists recorded a poverty risk of 28.5 percent. This means that around 34,000 of the 120,000 Bremerhaveners are socially dependent, because their income is too low in view of the regional price level.
It does not look any better in Gelsenkirchen. According to IW researchers, 28.4% of the population in the Ruhr region is poor or at risk of poverty. In third place follows a city, which many probably would not assume at this position: Cologne. "In the media city, more than every fourth is low in purchasing power," the report says. In fourth and fifth of the regions with the highest purchasing power poverty, two further West German cities with Duisburg and Bremen landed.
High poverty risk in rich Frankfurt
Striking: Among the ten most affected places is only one in the east, namely Berlin Mitte / West. This means the cross-border Berlin districts of Mitte and Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.
Surprisingly and quite worryingly, it might be for some that with Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf, two strong economic hurdles are suffering above-average high poverty.
The figures indicate a clear city-country split: urban regions are on average at a threat rate of 21.4 percent. In rural areas it is a whole eight points less, namely 13.7 percent. Social associations have long warned of a new social divide: "Poverty is no longer a marginal problem in Germany, but a socio-political problem. It must always be seen in relation to the respective social environment, "says the Social Association of Germany (SoVD).
The researchers at the IW Cologne reject a scandal of the poverty concept, but leave no doubt that relatively high poverty quotas are signs of social and also economic mistakes. The data refer to the year 2014, because only comprehensive price data could be determined up to then. Since then the situation may have worsened. Although unemployment has declined and salaries have tended to grow across the country, rents have risen sharply in the cities.
As the most vulnerable groups of people, the researchers have identified the unemployed, migrants and single parents. "In normal households outside these groups, purchasing power is only marginally low, with a quota of between five and six percent across Germany," the report says. And especially people with a background of migration and single-parenting live mainly in large cities.
To ensure that the situation is not exacerbated, it is up to the regional authorities to convince the authors of the case. To date, the funds have mainly been allocated to structurally weak rural regions. Because of the lower price level, however, the risk of poverty in the country is usually far less high than in the cities. Landau in the Pfalz or Tirschenreuth belong to the least poverty-prone places in Germany.
In order to better integrate the three groups most affected by poverty, for example, the expansion of full-day care is looked for. Comprehensive childcare does not only allow single-parent children to earn more income, but also increases their future career prospects.
Migrants should be facilitated by integration centers in the labor market. It is also recommended to promote SMEs, broadband and training for low-skilled and long-term unemployed. To achieve this, a city-specific upgrade would have to be undertaken in order to prevent ghettos from forming in the cities. However, one suspects that the fight against new poverty will not be easier.
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