Regarding the third poverty and wealth report of the Federal Government recently issued, the Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs Olaf Scholz declared the gap between rich and poor was still widening. In an interview with a popular German newspaper, Scholz quoted from the report. Generally, social injustice is growing. Nearly 25 percent of the German citizens are nowadays affected by poverty. According to the report, 13 percent of German citizens can be considered as poor, an additional 13 percent of the total population are only kept from official poverty due to family allowances or unemployment benefits. The incomes of the “rich” have continued to grow, whereas middle class incomes stagnate and lower class incomes have decreased.

According to the paper, a single person is defined as “rich” if having available a net income of more than 3.418 Euros per month. A family with two children is assumed to be rich when disposing of a net income of more than 7.178 Euros per month. In comparison, Scholz referred to the European Union definition of poverty according to which a single person can be characterised as poor if the income amounts to less than 60 percent of the median income earned in the member state in question. In the case of Germany, the poverty line corresponds to 781 euros net.

The third poverty and wealth report is based upon figures reaching from 2001 to 2005.