A survey carried out in 2021 already shows that for almost a third of people in Germany, unexpected expenses exceed their financial resources. This was before inflation and the energy crisis hit like a hammer on households. According to the German Federal Statistical Office, 31.9% of the population was unable to spontaneously raise 1150 euros or more from their budget last year. By comparison, this group was thus larger in Germany than in France (27.6%) and the Netherlands (15.1%). In Croatia, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, and Latvia, more than 40% of the population are in this situation.
The 40% of the population with the lowest incomes overall included people from single-parent households in disproportionate numbers, according to the statisticians. Almost two-thirds (64.6%) of them had a net equivalent income of less than 22,000 euros a year in 2021, and for a good third (33.2%) it was less than 16,300 euros.
