Frankfurt (dpa/lhe) – According to a report by the Parity Welfare Association, poverty in Hesse has continued to increase. In 2021, 18.3 percent of the people in the country were affected, the association announced on Wednesday. Hesse is thus above the national average of 16.5 percent and has fallen from seventh to eleventh place in a ranking of the federal states. “The economic consequences of the corona pandemic apparently drove up poverty in 2021,” said Annette Wippermann, the consultant for labor market policy and fundamental issues at Paritätisches Hessen. It has risen significantly among employed people nationwide, especially among the self-employed.
“The economic effects of the Ukraine war give reason to fear that the situation will deteriorate further,” said Wippermann. In 2020, 17.4 people in Hesse were still affected by poverty. In 2015, the state was still in third place after Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, but it now has the second highest poverty rate among western German states, the association said. The rate is highest at 20.1 percent in central Hesse, lowest at 17.7 percent in the Rhine-Main area. The federal government must immediately launch another relief package, the association demanded.
According to an EU convention, a household is considered poor in the Poverty Report by the Paritätische if the income is less than 60 percent of the median income. For single people, this was a monthly income of 1148 euros in 2021. For a couple with two children under the age of 14, it was 2410 euros.
