BERLIN: Poverty in Germany has not only reached a new record high, it has also threatened the country with disintegration into disparate regions, according to annual poverty report of the German Federation of Welfare Associations.
Although the economy has grown slightly and unemployment is relatively low, the poverty rate in Germany has increased; it has been rising almost continuously since 2006 and now stands at 15.5 percent. This means that about 12.5 million adults exist on less than €845 per month as unmarried persons or less than €1,873 in a family with two children.
With the exceptions of the three federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, the population has fallen further into poverty throughout the country. Although Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg have below-average poverty rates, they were not exempt from this trend.
The Ruhr region, Berlin and the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, referred to in the last three reports as problem areas, again exhibited significant increases in poverty. In Berlin, the national capital, one person in five is now regarded as poor.
