Price increase - Numerous retirees face financial restrictions.
Elderly individuals have experienced a loss of about 1.7% of their purchasing power due to inflation in recent times. The average reduction in purchasing power for other households was 2.2% between 2018 and 2023, according to a report released on Monday by the Aging Security Research Network of the German Pension Insurance in Berlin. However, the average monthly household income for pensioners was only 2,962 euros last year, significantly lower than the 4,674 euros for non-pensioner households.
In light of this, financial expert Maximilian Stockhausen from the Institute of the German Economy (IW) noted that pensioners generally had lower incomes and assets than other demographics. Due to their lower means, these groups were disproportionately affected by various restrictions. Many single pensioners, in particular, received housing allowances and benefited from recent improvements in this area.
Pensioners had to spend over 96% of their monthly income on daily expenses, while the figure was around 85% for other households. It was estimated that around a third of pensioners were unable to afford their basic living expenses with their income in 2023. Furthermore, 5.2% of these individuals had no significant assets - putting them at risk of financial instability, according to the experts.
On average, pensioner households' net worth was approximately 170,000 euros, while non-pensioner households had a net worth of 163,000 euros. Pensioner households also accumulated an average debt of 7,300 euros, while non-pensioner households had 42,000 euros in debt.
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Source: www.stern.de
