The percentage of children and youth receiving basic benefits has reached a new high. According to the German Children’s Fund (Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk), based on its own calculations, the share of children under 18 in the basic protection system has increased to 34.3%. Five years ago, this figure was 32.9%, and last year – 33.4%.
According to the Bertelsmann Foundation, more than one in five children is at risk of poverty. Based on such gloomy figures, the German Children’s Fund calls for the development of a strategy to combat this phenomenon unworthy of a developed society.
At the end of 2022, out of more than 5.6 million people in the so-called needy segments, more than 1.9 million were minors. The Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk has called for the introduction of a basic child allowance based on actual needs.
“More than a third of the recipients of basic social benefits are children and young people, even though their share in the total German population is only around 16%,” explains Thomas Krüger, President of the German Fund for ‘childhood.
Unfortunately, the traffic light coalition cannot agree on basic child allowances, which according to Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk “should be at the very top of the federal government’s priority list”.
The objective of the basic child allowance should be to effectively combat child poverty and ensure the social participation of every child in an independent, socially fair and unbureaucratic way, underlined Thomas Krueger.
The German Children’s Fund demands short-term measures to combat child poverty before the entry into force of the basic child allowance. First of all, it is necessary to significantly improve the standard allowance for children and young people, which has been in force since January.
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