Wagenknecht wants a referendum
More than half of the pensions are below 1,100 euros
March 18, 2024, 2:11 a.m
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According to the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, many pensioners live on all sorts of other income in addition to their statutory pensions. Wagenknecht, who recently founded her own party BSW, still sees pensioners “being released into old age poverty” if pension levels do not rise.
More than half of statutory pensions in Germany are less than 1,100 euros per month. This emerges from a new response from the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs to the request of MPs and party leader Sahra Wagenknecht. According to this, 10.1 million people in Germany receive a statutory old-age pension below 1,100 euros per month, which corresponds to 54.3 percent of all pensions, according to the letter, which is available to the editorial network Germany (RND).
There are 12.4 million pensions under 1,300 euros (66.6 percent) and 15.1 million pensions under 1,600 euros per month (81.1 percent). The vast majority of statutory pensions in Germany are currently below 2,000 euros per month, namely in around 17.3 million cases or 93.1 percent of all old-age pensions, according to current pension insurance statistics.
Wagenknecht criticized the pension level. This would mean that Germany would “release millions of old people into poverty,” she told the RND: “If more than half of the statutory pensions in the country are below 1,100 euros, then Labor Minister Heil’s promise that the pension level will remain permanently at the current level “It is not a promise, but a mockery of the people,” explained the chairwoman of the “Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht” (BSW) and called for “more influence from citizens on the future of their pensions.”
Retired couples have an average of 2,907 euros per month
“A referendum on our pension system should also take place on the day of the 2025 federal election,” said Wagenknecht. “It should be about a fair system in which all citizens finally pay.”
In contrast, the ministry emphasizes in the letter that additional retirement income is often added to the statutory pensions: “A low retirement pension in the statutory pension insurance cannot therefore in principle be inferred as a low retirement income,” writes BMAS State Secretary Kerstin Griese.
The German Pension Insurance (DRV) also stated that pension recipients “in numerous cases have retirement income from other sources, such as company pensions, income from a partner or claims for survivor benefits derived from this,” as a spokesman explained to the RND. According to the latest old-age security report, married couples in Germany achieve an average net total income from old-age security benefits and additional income of 2,907 euros per month, according to the DRV.