Armut in Deutschland wächst - Reichtum auch. WSI-Verteilungsbericht 2014

Germany is facing rising poverty rates. At the same time, the number of wealthy persons is constantly increasing. Yet, while we have comprehensive data on income poverty, research on high incomes is still rare. This is very much due to the lack of data available for the top income segment. This year’s distribution report of the WSI deals with these two margins of income distribution. It is shown that employment increasingly does not protect against poverty and that the already high risk of poverty facing persons who are unemployed has also risen in recent years. Levels of child poverty and poverty among the elderly are also increasing. At the same time the wealthy have been improving their income situation since the beginning of the 1990s. Looking at the composition of the disposable income it can be observed that the income of the poor is largely based on a high proportion of public benefits, while the incomes of the wealthy increasingly result from assets. These findings suggest a marked polarisation of German society that threatens to become a stable feature of its structure.