Overview

• Handelsverband Deutschland forecasts around €725 million in sales for this year’s school enrollment, marking a three percent rise from 2024.
• Officials have not determined if the increase comes from steeper prices or from parents buying more items.
• Families are expected to purchase cones, backpacks, notebooks, textbooks, sweets and gifts for the first day of school.
• Data from the Statistisches Bundesamt shows that schoolbook prices climbed 3.8 percent year-on-year, outpacing general consumer inflation.
• Several states including Baden-Württemberg and Hessen already fund school materials, renewing calls for a national free-materials policy.