1 in 3 Unemployed Can't Afford a Proper Meal in Germany

Date: 30 January 2019 - 20:59

News ID: ۶۲۶۸۰

BERLIN (DW) - Almost 5 million people in the EU's richest state lack the money for a nutritious meal every other day, according to new reports. And a third of people in Germany would struggle to pay unexpected expenses.
Almost one-third of unemployed persons in Germany are unable to regularly eat a nutritious meal.
Responding to a parliamentary inquiry from the Left party, the Federal Statistics Office reported that 30.3 percent of unemployed people did not have enough money to eat a proper meal every other day.
That amounts to about 5.14 million people over the age of 16, or 7.5 percent of Germany's total population.
The data is based on a 2017 EU survey on income, social inclusion and living conditions.
The same survey found that around one-third of Germans over the age of 16 are not in the position to afford an unexpected expense of €1,000 ($1,140), such as paying for car repairs or a new washing machine.
"Poverty is not a marginal phenomenon in Germany, but runs throughout the population," Left party social policy politician Sabine Zimmermann told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper, which reported the figures.