More than two million German citizens regularly use the services of food banks, and one million cannot adequately heat their homes, despite a strong economy over the past ten years, research by the WSI Institute has shown.

In 2019, the share of citizens with incomes more than half the average was 11,1 percent of the population of 84 million people, the WSI Institute for Economic and Social Sciences found in the survey.

From 2010 to 2019, it increased by 40 percent, according to the Institute, which is close to the unions. In 2010, the average household income per inhabitant was 21.219 euros, and in 2019 it was 24.037 euros.

"In 2019, the number of poor people in Germany reached the highest level in history", say the authors of the research, although the period from 2010 to 2019 was marked by a strong economy and a drop in the unemployment rate. Good economic results and reduced unemployment did not help the poorer households, whose material situation further worsened, they emphasize, noting that in 2010 the poor needed about three thousand euros to overcome the poverty threshold. In 2019, they lacked almost four thousand euros.

WSI research found that the increase in the number of poor people cannot be attributed to recent events, such as the coronavirus pandemic and the sharp rise in energy prices caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, DPA reported.

Charities warn that poverty in Germany has reached a new record level. According to the statistics office, 13 million German citizens were at risk of poverty in 2021, i.e. 16 percent of the population.