Berlin (dpa/lrs) – Because of high rent and additional costs, live in Rhineland-Palatinate and me Saarland A study found more people in poverty than previously thought. After deducting rent, additional costs, loan interest and other things, many people are left with only disposable income in the poverty range. The research center of the Joint Association came to this conclusion when evaluating data from the Federal Statistical Office.
According to conventional calculations, the poverty rate in Rhineland-Palatinate is 12.3 percent; taking housing costs into account, it rises to 19.3 percent. Rhineland-Palatinate is in 14th place nationwide for both values.
According to conventional calculations, the poverty rate in Saarland is 14.3 percent; taking housing costs into account, it rises to 21.7 percent. Saarland is in ninth place nationwide for the first value and tenth for the second. Across Germany, the two rates are 14.4 and 21.2 percent.
People who have less than 60 percent of the median monthly income are considered poor.
Criticism: The extent of poverty is overlooked
The association criticizes that millions of people remain invisible in the usual poverty statistics because their housing costs are not taken into account. In fact, 5.4 million more people in Germany live below the poverty line than previously assumed. In order to adjust for housing costs, more than a fifth of the population is considered poor. According to these calculations, the threshold for a one-person household is 1,016 euros of disposable income per month.
So-called residential poverty is most widespread in Bremen, Saxony-Anhalt and Hamburg, and least severe in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.
The difference between the conventional poverty rate and the poverty rate adjusted for housing costs is particularly high in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The Joint Association calls on the future federal government to create new and permanently socially connected apartments.
