Poverty on rise among Germany's elderly

thank you [Music] it's been more than a decade since Irena and Peter Dickman have eaten in a restaurant while seven dollars may not sound like much for a burger the retired couples say it's a luxury they can't afford the sensible funded oil our pension is about twelve hundred dollars but with 840 dollars just for the rent not even including food sanitary items or medication it's not enough that's why we also get the so-called basic pension on top of it it took them three years to finally apply for the additional State benefit and also to go to a food bank but Irina says they prefer going to supermarkets even if it means counting every penny but inflation has spiked by more than 10 percent over the past year which means their choices are increasingly limited there too what's left to cut down we don't even eat much we have breakfast and one meal a day I cook myself because anything else would be unaffordable the couple say it's not the life they had imagined for themselves after working for decades it is frustrating I have worked 45 years without a break the majority of it on night shifts partly 52 hours a week I thought my pension would be enough but unfortunately that was not the case instead the Deep months have had to borrow money from relatives and sell all their gold they're not the only ones struggling to make ends meet in one of Europe's richest countries more and more elderly Germans are no longer able to live on their pensions today one in six over the age of 65 is at risk of poverty and with inflation soaring the number of those relying on additional benefits is growing too in June the number of recipients of basic security benefits Rose nearly 10 annually to 630 000 Europe's current economic and energy crises are only adding to the problem the situation is dramatic we have elderly people who sleep on the floor because they can't afford a new bed and now additional Energy payments are coming and groceries are increasing so rapidly that we're receiving more and more calls that by the 20th of the Month people have no food left to eat Sandra Bisping and her Association support retirees with basic necessities such as food baskets money for repairs and energy bills claims for Aid at her Association have tripled since the war in Ukraine started although the government has promised pensioners a one of three hundred dollar energy allowance it's a drop in the bucket for people like the teak months they say they were built a one thousand dollar back payment for the last period alone sibel karkush trt World cologne [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: TRT World

Views: 16,768

Keywords: Elderly, Europe Inflation 2022, Germany, Poverty, Poverty Among Elderly People, Retirement Life in Germany, TRT, TRT News, TRT World

Id: Sy1tosfetYo

Length: 3min 15sec (195 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 02 2022