They have paid in a whole working life and then the money is just enough to make ends meet. According to a report, this applies to around 2.5 million pensioners in Germany. The amount of pension available to you per month corresponds to the amount of the basic security.
According to a report, even those who have worked full-time for 45 years and have always earned 23,800 euros a year will not receive a net pension above the basic security. At the end of 2020, this applied to more than 2.5 million pensioners, according to the "Neuer Osnabrücker Zeitung" from a government response to a request from Left MP Sören Pellmann. The pension level is clearly too low if these employees only receive a "Hartz IV pension", Pellmann told the newspaper.
According to the report, the Ministry of Labor estimated the need for basic security in old age at a gross nationwide average of 833 euros per month (as of the end of 2020). In the east, the amount is therefore significantly lower. In Brandenburg it is 784 euros, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania 772 euros, in Saxony 747 euros, in Saxony-Anhalt 750 euros and in Thuringia 760 euros, as the newspaper reported from the ministry's response.
"The fact that an annual income of 23,800 euros over 45 years is only enough for a Hartz IV pension shows that the pension level is blatantly low," said Pellmann. The Leipzig member of the Bundestag, who is running for the chairmanship of the Left Party at the end of June, demanded: "Wages must also lead to pensions from which one can live well." In view of the skyrocketing prices, higher wages and a significantly higher level of pensions would be needed in Germany. In the rest of the EU, the pension level is about ten percent higher on average, Pellmann continued.
The German pension level is currently 49.4 percent. It shows how closely the statutory pensions follow wages and salaries on average.
