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This applied to 17.7 million people in 2023, or 21.2% of the
population, the federal statistics office reported.
While largely unchanged compared to 2022, the figures offer a
backdrop to the political climate in Germany, where the
far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is competing for first
place state elections in the country's poorer east in September.
A promise to boost defence spending in response to the war in
Ukraine has also sent Chancellor Olaf Scholz's uneasy coalition
in search of cuts to the budget, as households have struggled
with a spike in inflation that is now easing.
Germany's data follows an EU definition of poverty that counts
people who fit at least one of the following three criteria: at
risk of poverty; experiencing severe material and social
deprivation; in a household with "very low work intensity".
The percentage of German considered at risk of poverty was 14.3%
in 2023, a slight improvement on the 14.8% reported in 2022.
(Reporting by Rachel More; Editing by Madeline Chambers)
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