Germany, Europe’s largest economy and for decades the symbol of European prosperity, is now facing an uncomfortable truth: Poverty among its households is not receding and is breaking one record after another .
According to a report published today by the charity Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband , the poverty rate has risen to a record high of 16.1% in 2025, up from 15.5% in 2024, with 13.34 million people living below the threshold . Put simply, around one in six residents of the country is now considered at risk of poverty, a figure that for a country of Germany’s size and wealth raises questions about its very social model .
The threshold below which a household falls into this category is set at 60% of the median net income . According to the German Statistical Office (Destatis), for a person living alone the threshold was set at 1,446 euros per month in 2025, up from 1,381 euros in 2024, while for a household with two adults and two children under 14 it rose to 3,036 euros, up from 2,900 euros. The rise in the threshold reflects inflationary pressure on the cost of living, but it also hides a trap: the higher the bar, the more households are below it.
The phenomenon of the working poor is particularly worrying. Work, which is theoretically the safest barrier against poverty, no longer guarantees a decent living. According to Destatis, in 2025 6.8% of all workers were living below the poverty risk threshold, with temporary workers disproportionately affected at 13.9% and part-time workers at 9.9%. This is the imprint of a widespread sector of low wages and precarious employment that operates alongside the image of strong German industry.
The crisis, however, is not evenly distributed. Regional disparities are striking: poverty rates range from 12.6% in wealthy Bavaria to 27.5% in Bremen, with poverty particularly entrenched among the elderly, women and single parents. The leadership of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband itself spoke of a state of crisis , warning that any cuts to social benefits would hit those who depend on them first — single parents, the elderly, the sick, people with disabilities, refugees and children.
And this is precisely where the darkest aspect lies. Child poverty is skyrocketing: according to data cited by Human Rights Watch, the percentage of children living in households at risk of poverty and social exclusion has practically doubled, from around 12% in 2019 to 24% by 2022. When one in four children grows up in conditions of deprivation, we are not talking about a cyclical problem but about an intergenerational legacy of inequality. It is no coincidence that in households where the main earner has a low level of education, the poverty risk rate reaches 38.3%: poverty is closely linked to education and social background.
But the most instructive conclusion is the long-term one. Research by the same organization for the period 2005–2024 shows that, although Germany’s GDP per capita increased significantly, the poverty rate remained consistently high. The conclusion is clear and subversive for anyone who believes that growth automatically solves everything: economic growth does not automatically translate into less poverty . Political will is needed to make wealth reach the many.
The German case, then, acts as a mirror for the whole of Europe. It shows that even the strongest economies can produce wealth and poverty at the same time, when growth is decoupled from its distribution . And it raises, indirectly, a question that concerns our own country: how resilient is a society that grows its GDP but leaves an ever-expanding part of its population behind?
