Overview
- Using the housing‑cost‑adjusted method, 18.4 million people are classified as poor in 2024—about 5.4 million more than conventional measures and up from 21.2% a year earlier.
- The approach subtracts warm rent, heating and electricity before setting the poverty line, diverging from the federal government’s recent inequality report that did not adopt this metric.
- Young adults up to 25 (about 31%), people 65 and older (about 29%), single parents, single‑person households and families with three or more children are disproportionately affected.
- Bremen records the highest housing‑adjusted rate at 33.4%, followed by Saxony‑Anhalt (28%), Hamburg (25.9%) and Berlin (24.6%), with Bavaria (18.1%) and Baden‑Württemberg (19.9%) lower.
- Official data show households under €1,300 net spend 64% of consumption on food and housing, fueling calls for stronger tenant protections and more social housing as opponents emphasize faster construction.