Risk of poverty still higher in former Eastern Germany
December 16, 2009 |17:35 | News By : Team X
Risk of poverty is still higher in former Eastern German states than in western German states after Germany united for 20 years, shown by official figures released on Tuesday. The risk of poverty rate in Germany differs significantly between German states, said German federal statistical office (Destatis) based in Wiesbaden. 19.5 percent of people in the former Eastern German states are at risk of poverty compared with 13.1 percent in the west.
Clear differences were also observed between the northern states and southern states, said Destatis. Nearly every fourth person living in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern wasat risk of poverty in 2008 and more than every fifth in Bremen. In the southern states of Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bayern, the risk of poverty rate is only 10.2 percent and 10.8 percent separately.
The unemployed and families headed by single parents were most at risk of poverty, Destatis said. The risk of poverty rate was calculated according to a standard of European Union. People, who earn less than 60 percent of the average income in Germany, were at risk of poverty.
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