Poverty rate

The poverty rate is an economic indicator that indicates the percentage of people in the total population of an economy who have to get by on an income below the poverty line . This group is known as low income .

detection

The poverty rate results from the comparison of the low-income population with the total population:

${\displaystyle {\text{Armutsquote}}={\frac {\text{einkommensarme Bevölkerung}}{\text{Gesamtbevölkerung}}}\cdot 100\,\%}$.

The higher the proportion of the population with poor incomes in the total population, the higher the poverty rate and vice versa.

Methods

Mainly two different methods are used to define this poverty line :

• You orientate yourself on the mean ( median ) of the income value of the population. Starting from this mean one takes a certain percentage, e.g. B. 50% of the mean (median) equivalised income . Any person who is less available counts as “poor”. This method is used to calculate what is known as relative poverty .
• One orientates oneself on a certain shopping cart , whose monthly costs form the poverty line. The proportion of the population with less available than the value of the basket is considered poor. This method determines absolute poverty . Sometimes two different shopping baskets are used, according to which the group of poor is divided into normal poverty and extreme poverty , depending on which shopping basket can be purchased from the monthly income.

There are also more complex forms of calculation that include other indicators such as income in addition to income. B. include the living situation.

Germany

In 2009 the poverty rate in Germany was 15%, every sixth lived in poverty. That corresponds to around 12.5 million people. In 2012 the poverty rate was just under 15%; since 1991 with a rate of 11.16%, the trend has been rising, with the exception of an interim low of 10.8% in 1998. Those who have less than 60% of the mean equivalence-weighted net household income are considered poor.

In a comparison of the federal states, the poverty rate was highest in Bremen in 2019 (22.6%), followed by Saxony-Anhalt (21.4%) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (20.4%).

See also

• At-risk-of-poverty rate
• Pen's Parade
• Wealth rate
• Relative poverty gap

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Marcus Klöckner: Income inequality is "far higher" in Germany today than it was 20 years ago. Article about the results of the study on social inequality from 2016 by the Institute for Economic and Social Sciences (WSI) and the Institute for Macroeconomics and Business Cycle Research (IMK) on behalf of the Hans Böckler Foundation . In: Telepolis, August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
2. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: Poverty in Germany: Bremen remains at the bottom - DER SPIEGEL - Economy. Retrieved March 14, 2020 .