Around 2.1 million children, or 14% of all German children, are at risk of poverty, the federal statistical bureau Destatis said on Monday.
According to EU income and living conditions statistics, a person is considered at risk of poverty if their equalized income is less than 60% of the total population's median.
In 2023, this threshold was €1,314 ($1,414.5) net per month for a person living alone in Germany and €2,759 ($2,979) net per month for households with two adults and two children under the age of 14, Destatis noted.
The at-risk-of-poverty rate for under-18s whose parents had a lower level of education, such as a lower secondary school leaving certificate without a vocational qualification, was 36.8% in Germany in 2023, it said.
Last year, nearly one-fourth of Germany's under-18-year-olds faced poverty or social exclusion.
According to the definition, a person is at risk of poverty or social exclusion if at least one of the following three conditions applies: their disposable income is below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, their household is affected by significant material and social deprivation or they live in a household with very low labor force participation.
Compared to other EU member states, the risk of poverty or social exclusion for children and young people in Germany in 2023 was below average at 23.9% while it was 24.8% in the EU.
The ratio was 10.7% in Slovenia, 13.8% in Finland, 14.3% in the Netherlands, 39% in Romania, 34.5% in Spain, and 33.9% in Bulgaria.
In total, around 19.9 million children and young people across the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023.
