Overview
- Creditreform’s Schuldneratlas, published on Thursday, November 12, 2026, found 7.36 million adults—10.58% of the population—classified as overindebted, a 4.1% increase or about 293,000 more cases than a year earlier.
- The increase is concentrated in age groups under 30 and those aged 30–49, with under‑30s up about 5.8% to roughly 1.17–1.2 million and prevalence rates near 17% for 30–39‑year‑olds and 16% for 40–49‑year‑olds.
- Most of the rise shows up in ‘soft’ or pre‑judicial markers such as creditor reminders and collection procedures, which often precede court enforcement, and Creditreform cautions this pattern can harden into garnishments or insolvencies.
- Regional figures vary sharply: Berlin rose by about 8,000 cases to ~390,000 adults (12.57%), Bremen and North Rhine‑Westphalia record the highest regional rates, and Bavaria has the lowest rate at about 7.58% (~830,000 cases).
- Creditreform attributes the trend to surging living, energy and housing costs, growing consumer credit products like buy‑now‑pay‑later, and weakening jobs in parts of industry, and it warns these pressures are likely to push indebtedness higher next year.