More than 3 million retirees face the risk of poverty – DW – 11/16/2024

Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of the new left-wing BSW party that bears her name, lamented the “dramatic increase in old-age poverty” in an interview with the German dpa news agency on Saturday.

Eurostat data on pensioners at risk of poverty

BSW submitted an official request for information to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical agency, finding that approximately 3.2 million people aged 65 and over in Germany are at risk of poverty.

Data from Eurostat shows that approximately one in every six retirees in the country falls into this category.

This figure increased slightly to 3.245 million in 2023, from 3.157 million the previous year. However, in 2021, amid the inflation pressure following the Covid-19 epidemic, this figure remained at 3.3 million.

In 2013, only 2.4 million people were at risk of poverty; This was the case if, according to Eurostat’s definition, the retiree’s total income, including benefits, was less than 60% of the national average income.

However, demographic changes and the aging population in Germany play an important role in this increase; The retiree population has increased by more than 50% since 1991, from 12 million to 18.7 million in 2022.

Widespread campaign issue for BSW as early voting approaches

“Pensioners’ poverty meanwhile affects even the middle class,” Wagenknecht, who officially left the Socialist Left Party and founded the new party in January, told dpa on Saturday.

He claimed that neither Chancellor Olaf Scholz, himself a former finance minister, nor his CDU rival Friedrich Merz had an answer to this issue.

With Germany holding early elections in February, Wagenknecht said good pensions were a “focal point” for BSW.

His party frequently addresses such issues. Last month, data was requested from the German statistical office on the number of individuals aged 65 and over in Germany who need social assistance payments in addition to their pensions.

Destatis found that almost 730,000 people did so in the second quarter of 2024; This number has increased quite sharply in the last 10 years, despite the increasing retired population.

New party with funding gap

Wagenknecht also appeared in publications of Germany’s RND newspaper group on Saturday, once again advocating action to reduce the cost of living.

In this case, he called for more legislation to be passed in the Bundestag before elections in February, but this time led by the opposition rather than the remaining minority government.

He said there would be a parliamentary majority to repeal controversial new laws on heating prices introduced early in the government’s term.

He described the heating legislation as one of the “most illogical and, in the long run, most expensive legislation for citizens” in the last three years.

“This does not protect the climate, rather it represents the imposition of the state that wants to rule over the heating cellars of our citizens,” he told newspapers.

Wagenknecht and BSW are also facing a cash shortage, especially with the election date being brought forward.

While the new party, which has secured representation in the European Parliament and some state parliaments since its founding in January, would theoretically be eligible for state campaign finance aid for the next federal election, party officials say the funds will not be available in practice until 2025 and will therefore not flow in time.

Party treasurer Ralph Suikat said on Friday that BSW had either asked for donations from supporters and said it would repay it in 2025, or asked for more official loans if necessary. Wagenknecht also said the campaign finance issue poses “particular challenges.”

msh/lo (dpa, AFP, epd)