Old-age poverty in Germany | DW Documentary 

It's called capitalism. Those who produce are worthy of life; those who don't even deserve recognition.

​​​@@limolnarI agree. Theres a lot of ageism involved. I'm 64 and work full time and my doctors ignore me. I think they're hoping I'll just go away and die so that's one less old person gotten rid of.

They prioritize migrants (economic migrants) because they accept to work for lower incomes. And leftist accept it. This makes people angry and this explains why some people are now voting for extremists parties and abandon the classic ones.

This is one reason right wing attracts people. What to do if politics don´t care?! The current government instead of taking care of the agendas the right wing uses to populize they just blame them for beeing whatever helps to avoid taking responsibility takling the issues

Most people would need a workplace pension to supplement the government pension. Basic government pension usually only covers basic expenses.

🤔🤷🏻‍♂

It doesn’t affect the “new Germans” so it doesn’t matter to the lugenpresse

Short attentionspan in the young people, 45+ minutes docu won't be watched. This ends up as a news item with a lot more potential views.

​@hillockfarm8404 Maybe dw has the 15 second ticktock version 😂

I always feel sorry for old people in Germany who work so hard all their life paid taxes, and now they look for empty bottles in garage bins, I had loving grandparents and seeing their age people on Berlin streets brakes my heart, Instead of sending money to other war countries like Ukraine and spending in illegal immigrants who come from boats, better give some money to this citizen who deserves

They no longer have an income that can be taxed but are a net loss financially for the government. They are often unwell and cost said government much more money to care for their medical needs than a young person who has the ability to make money for their government and isnt going deaf and blind!. The only thing governments are concerned about when it comes to the elderly is how to get them to die faster! Sorry but that's just the way it is.

Politicians get paid to bring people into poverty, American companies pay, and offer them positions after their term in politics, why do you think Scholz forgave 100 Billion in taxes and to whom, and he gave America a 100 Billion defence contract for F35s, that cant carry german Taurus rockets

Your spot on .. its everywhere in the west6

It's not politicians, it's capitalism.

It’s happening in developed countries in the Far East such as South Korea and Japan. I met senior citizens in Seoul in Spring 2023 who still had to work full time has hotel housekeeping and cab driving. Their adult children do not look after them as was expected just a couple decades ago.

Sons help their parents 😊🎉

@@micaeloliveira2727 exactly. People in western Europe are slowly experiencing the quality of life Eastern Europeans are having for a long time. They literally looked down on Eastern European people because of their poverty. This is karma.

@@Tunderb not karma, bad governance. All could have been avoided.

@@Tunderb exactly!

Does not make it ‘right’ alas ……. The ‘top of the food chain’ ie those that ‘own and run the planet’ and this planet is abundant have manipulated legislation, finance and food to create this situation …………… Shameful, we need change………,,,

Not really. There are indeed poor pensioners, but pensioners are also the richest social group. 1/4 are millionaires if the value of their house is taken into account, and another quarter are not far from that. Not to mention all the perks they enjoy, the deeply unfair and costly triple lock etc and of course the fact they have been voting for the Tory party and around 60-70% of them voted for Brexit, not caring a jot about the impact on the future generations and their own welfare. So no, very different situation.

@@alexkat8297 pensioners come in extremes in the UK, as they do in Germany, there are indeed very wealthy pensioners, i.e people who have lots of assets, good company/private pensions, etc. There are also lots of very poor pensioners in the UK, people living on the State pension and we´ve actually got one of the lowest state pensions in Europe.

@@Minimmalmythicist Lowest contributions too! It's the richest age group in the UK. Of course there are poor pensioners, but even more poor children...

@@alexkat8297 yeah, if I had two million € and you have nothing, we are well off on average. But you are right: I ave seen a lot of poor young people as well. They are working full time and are still poor. One reason is way too expensive housing and energy costs.

@@alexkat8297 assuming you are UK citizen, tripple lock is also for you. Think about it, one day you will also be pensioner applying fo state pension. Yes, you have to apply for it, otherwise you will not get it.

Sad how a US veteran can be homeless, but illegals get a decent hotel room just for existing.

What angers me in the U. S. is seeing how the military complex bamboozles young people into joining, then when they're through with you, they simply discard you like trash.

@@breal7277they don’t necessarily though? Especially if you make a long career in the military. My father spent 30 years, they basically pay for everything for him, paid for my $40,000-a-year university, his healthcare, his pension… the VA is pretty bad though.

It's how you think of things ​@@breal7277

@@benfreiler4054 your a lucky one. My husband was into military and nobody gave our daughter a free ride.

Did I misunderstand the video? This pension is optional and private, not something that they must pay taxes into?

Croats who move from Germany home to Croatia as pensioners now have on average less pension than Croatian pensioners who receive their pension from Croatia on average, that still some Croats move from their home country is an enigma to me, but many have started to move home before the retirement age from different countries such as Ireland..

I am so sorry for what you are going through. May God comfort you and sustain you

@@magesalmanac6424 No, pension contributions are mandatory. Each working generation pays for the current pensioners. And therein lies the problem. Germany has had a very low fertility rate for decades and has now an urn shaped demographic distribution. Demographers and economists already warned about this in the 90ies, and made very clear that this system is not sustainable. Adding millions of East German pensioners to the system that didn’t contribute at all, didn’t help either. But it was impossible for a politician to touch the pension system, because the exact same people who now whinge and whine would have given everyone the boot had they done so. Now that the proverbial has hit the fan, they play the victims. Sorry not my problem. You messed up, you live with the consequences.

It’s optional if you are self employed.

It feels like abandonment and neglect when people just stop helping out the parents in this kind of situation. I will not hesitate to have my mother-in-law live with us and I wish more people would do the same thing.

honestly... depends on the parents. also if the choice for "sandwich" generation is between raising their own kids or supporting parents - of course you should rather invest into your kids, that's your job as a parent. caring for elderly is therefore also a luxury not everyone can afford (both time-wise and money-wise)

@amistiel "invest in kids"... please, don't be absurd. That should not be defined as business. as it sounds from what you have written. 30 years back, it was not a discussion at all if one should look after a parent.

@@name_it you read too much into "invest" portion of what I wrote - as I mentioned, sometimes there's a decision to be made - to be able to afford supporting kids or parents and in that scenario it's normal/natural to choose to support own kids. if you don't like the word "invest" so much :D and true, 30 years ago we lived in a very different world, with very different economy. if we would be working where we do now back then, instead of attending kindergarten, we too would not have been discussing this difficult topic :)

@amistiel no offence :) I apologise if I sounded rude... yes, you have right. I personally don't have to make that choice.

Interesting that your government recently cut the guarantee pension for Swedish pensioners living abroad. Because I saw many Swedish pensioners living in Thailand and I wonder why Swedish government let a lot of money go out of the country😅?

I think they didn't cut the Swedish pensions. If you work long enough to have a Swedish pension, no one can take that pension away. If I worked 15 years in Sweden and 15 in Germany I would have both pensions (EU agreement about pensions) but not the full because every country would give me as much as I put in your pension system. You are talking nonsense. It is not possible to give your country for pension system, and your country is not giving it back. You messed something up

Not really.

I think you missed the point.

@@peterseth3296 So Right!

And no gun nuts or Christian talibans !

@@peterseth3296 I understand "1 is too many" but is 0.16% of US population homeless unexpected? How many of those make the conscience decision to take drugs instead of care of themselves. $1.2T in wealth transfers a year in the US has to be enough.

I can't but agree with you, besides are you an African?

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

Yes, I agree. She has some other personal issues going on.

Absolutely true. The children in Germany don't want to have anything to do with their parents. It is the exception here to look after the old folks.

Poverty makes you lonely.

yeah, sure, it´s better than a third world country, but it´s still not good and these people do have difficulties getting access to food.

Being a disabled person, unable to work in Germany, many of the interviewed people seem relatively wealthy to me.

They could live better, but government spends money supporting slackers from third world countries.

Still much better off than many in this world.

@@malkontentniepoprawny6885 well, they´re not "slackers", you couldn´t imagine the journey people have completed in order to live in the West. Also, it´s simply not true, if you mean foreign aid, the foreign aid budget is tiny compared to the blowing people up budget. You also can´t just walk into a country and claim benefits immediately.

Hopefully young people will begin advocating for those who can't. It's time.

Thanks for watching!

It every where these seniors r much better I think u haven't seen senior poverty in Asia countries

@@pennyc8252 I’ve seen bad conditions in Thailand and Hong Kong. May god help those who suffer from poverty.

In America..people who admit and wish to tackle these things are called Socialists and Communists..

modern politicians are career politicians, for them its a job and the electorate is just in the way.

What about the corrupt corporate giants who took away defined benefit pensions in favor of 401ks? You like to blame the government but it's really business practices over the past 40 years that have created this situation. Shareholders just gave Elon Musk 56 billion dollars. Are you serious?

Too much money spent on war and weapons and policing the planet.

US has a completely different pension system.

Turkish older people are trusting. They trust their neighbours, relatives, hence they are open for interaction... Dutch or German older people, on the other hand, are always suspicious, they afraid of their own shadow!! You offer to buy them a coffee or simply ask about weather in a queue, and they give you the look of "what do you want from me?" 😂 Then they complain of loneliness... 😂 My parents are Turkish and my parents-in-law are Dutch-German so I know it first hand... Westerners simply don't like human interaction as much as they say they do, but they don't want to be alone either...difficult people to understand

If you want to live well, don't work, just come by boat.

@@malkontentniepoprawny6885 If you address me, here my question for you: What or which boat do you recommend me to take and where to? And will I be treated better elsewhere than in the country I was born, lived and worked? If yes, I'm prepared to leave.

​@@MendeMaria-ej8bf I think he means the refugees from Africa who came to Europe by boat and get the state benefits for refugees. I think in Germany the state give about €450 per person per month. Those money can be used to help the poor pensioners perhaps. However, those refugees shouldn't get that free money for long. The state should force them to work as they are shortage of labours Anyway,I don't think it is nice saying like that 1 in 4 ppls came by boat died in the sea. They have hard lives too unfortunately.

@@okinwonderland9734 Thank you for your comment. What I meant to say: People in a so-called rich country should not be poor while there are more and more millionaires and even billionaires.

@@MendeMaria-ej8bf In theory Yes, but you need to have good system too. After I watched this vdo I think German pensioners' problems are housing and cost of living. With €800 pension per month and still have to pay rent is impossible to live well. Things have to be changed towards Socialism like in the Nordic countries , for example, encourage citizens to contribute more for their pensions, housing aids for pensioners, special grocery discounts for pensioners etc. By the way, I think ANTI immigration policy by the far right isn't the solution. It will only create MORE problems, hatreds, tensions and society devided. The cost of living in Europe increased because of the Russia war not the immigrants. The housing problems are on-going problem in Germany and some other countries in Europe like Ireland which hasn't been solved. Now it is time. Regarding the immigration, the only way to solve is to make the existing immigrants to integrate well and fast enough e.g. learning language and useful skills,to start working and contribute to the society. Germany is aging society and obviously in need more young people to work. Regarding the extra rich citizens, use the socialist policies by taxing them more, tax the windfall profits, tax their business for green policies etc. don't let them exploit the country and don't pay enough. That's what I think. By the way, I am from Thailand. I live and work in Europe now but the the end I will go back to my country to retire. Although, the cost of living in Thailand is not so cheap as it was before as we have high energy and fuel prices too and we never get any help from the government, but we try to survive ourselves. My mother has no pension but she has income from renting 2 apartments about €550 a month and she lives OK in her own home. She grows fruits and vegetables in her garden and give away for free to the poors in the area especially the Myanmar workers. She has her cycle of friends to go out doing activities together. She hardly complains of anything.

many people from your country come and live here in Bulgaria. If it is an option for you - you can consider it as well. Life here is not luxurious, but is calm and peaceful, a lot of the Western issues don't exist here. There are many Britts expats, who run their RU-vid channels and give advises for people in your situation. Just be careful not to become victim of some sort of scam. Think and plan ahead and be careful, double check everything. I wish you well, whatever you decide to do.

I have NEVER been in a country were people were as friendly as in England - perhaps its's you!?

Okay, so they have to give up their friendships and families to move far away to a foreign but cheaper small town ? That sounds horrible. Do you know that lonelyness is a cause for alzheimers and depression ?

@@alleaufihreposition You obviously have never met any Canadians. We can make friends with anyone :) I could be curious to know where she moved as even small towns are expensive now and no one I know that is hard up on money is buying a "cheap" apartment. There aren't any.

As an American, I look at the problems in the US, and I am horrified. I thought Germany had a better social program. I never thought I would see a story like this from there.

@@GKP999 - same problem as in a number of other western countries - governments cutting back on all forms of social security due to large national debt and insufficient tax income... one good example being britain... there seriously needs to be a major tax reform in most countries... the super rich whether individuals or companies need to be paying more...

@@alleaufihreposition I am one of those who is doing just that- forcing me to make a life in a town where it is more affordable. This is a way of life for a larger part of the world. One way or another we have to sacrifice. They are unhappy with the high cost of living in the cities where they live. Maybe moving to somewhere more affordable will give them the ability to use some of their money for a holiday, for example. It is a choice, and neither is going to be perfect.

My country has a similar system, but the money given by the state is not enough for people to survive on, they still need help from family. People who have no family are screwed! What I realized is that the perception that "It's not my responsibility, the State will take care of it" has led society to fall apart. People don't care about their neighbors and people around them suffering anymore, they don't feel a sense of personal responsibility to fix it, because they believe that's the role of the state. So, I agree that countries like India might be better off. I've seen people from there be a lot kinder and generous to each other...

@@sara_sofia_1984 Thank you for sharing your opinion. Hope things will get better soon.

There's good and bad things in everything. Coming from asia also, the family system you mentioned can also be abused by bad parents, wanting to always be put on a pedestal by their children, gaslight their children, they cannot even have their own lives.

It doesn't work here though. Many young people barely earn enough to support themselves, let alone their parents too.

In developt countries a system based on families caring for the old does not work. Children often have to leave the place of their parents to find work or study. Back in the days there has been a housewife which took care of children, elderly or disabled in the family. But today both parents have to work to afford living. There is often no time or space for the old. When my father got disabled in old age, I and my mother took care of. I only could work a few hours a day these times, I was barely living from my savings. So if anyone does this, be aware that you won´t be able to pay a lot in the pension fund and therefore you will be poor at old age, too. This is the system.

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

That is sad. I am sorry about that, wish I could help.

Is there a way that you could put your name on the waiting list for low income housing? I wish you all the best.

First world country eh?

if you keep politicians like Trudeau in power you will surely end homeless ....

Give all the government money to muslims and buy them mansions and porches. All problems solved 👌

BS I get 2000$ month pension and my house expenses are 400$ plus have enough savings to live very well. Plan ahead and budget is the secret.😂

Oh, they can always take advantage of the euthanasia "benefit" provided by the Canadian government. I guess that's all they have to offer to such people.

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

I want to help her, let’s make a group and help her on monthly basis. I can’t sleep thinking what she said about meals…

Hi, thanks a lot for watching and taking the time to comment! Inquiries can be sent via the contact page on the DW website.

​@@murtazarasheed7189Take that love, and give it to your nearby neighbors. I promise they need it just as much.

And they still winning. This is someone salary who has kids on the Balkan example. They live well if we look economy or "1st world countries" like the US, and Canada. They didn't know with the money properly when they were working, and now is everyones fault.

On wars against the common people everywhere.

They gave the money to ''engineers" and 'doctors" from pontoon boats.

​@lagringa7518 It looks like they find spending money on the war industry is more lucrative than doling it out to pensioners.

@@gilsonsangulukaniphiri5018 Basically it's the utter desertion of all our western governments from the 'useless eaters' into the pockets of the people haters! 🤐

@@malkontentniepoprawny6885 Everybody is bought today... who knew how willing these traitors would be to just kill democracy ...and all those people who facilitated their enrichment by staying overworked and under paid while being pressured to consume and stay in debt for a century... like artificially fattened cows to the slaughter house is what the former citizens have become and now the curtain is down and our usefulness ended.. as they reap all the spoils.

Typical ignorant politicians. I have seen some of them in german Talk shows. Its almost unbearable to listening to those lies they tell and their ignorance. They plainly deny everything.

The retired German should live in Romania on the German Pension. 😀

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that's is EU garden

@@nicktw8688 lots do that, the savvy ones are already in Spain, South East Asia etc

I am pretty sure that by the old age you are supposed to own your apartment not rent . And utilities and taxes are super cheap . And elderly have discounts . At least in my country

@@junglesuperstar9270 most Germans are renters, in cities nearly all people rent. And utilities are very expensive, especially since the war in Ukraine.

This works until there's no financial crisis and hyperinflation. Millions of people who have been saving all their lives were left with nothing. Take USSR, life savings evaporated when it collapsed. It may not be the case in the USA, but still investment and planning is not always the answer

Public retirement system would be much more effective but how would the corporates makeoney then hah?

@@ifigeniagakoudi6465 I don't know if public retirement would be more effective. Our public retirement system in the US is running in to hot water and the problem isn't with the funding, it's with longevity and people taking retirement "early" at 62. Social Security will soon be redesigned complete with higher taxes, but I think it's a public AND private solution together.

Not for war, for guests from Africa and the Middle East who don't want to work.

Also War.​@@malkontentniepoprawny6885

@@malkontentniepoprawny6885 and for war

​@@malkontentniepoprawny6885 true, but who cares, they wanted them, they need to take care of them now.

Portugal is one of those countries that taxes and fines people but gives nothing back - no proper parks , no swimming pools, no health centres unless you are rich . Horrible country

We have better weather and families are tighter 😢😢

@@micaeloliveira2727 climate in Portugal is crap; housing is freezing in winters, full of mould and in summers it is unbearably hot. The Portuguese have their cult of poverty and are jealous of real European countries - who know how to build houses 👍🏻

radical politics is the answer right now. .😅

I feel for him as well. He is a lovely man. But, even he would admit that he made errors that led to his present situation. Although he eventually went bankrupt, when he was a wealthy young man, he did not invest some of his earnings in his retirement.

None of that is free, it's paid for my people like me who work in the UK and pay tax here.

They dont have anyone to talk to probably because they chose not to have a family.

First lady , Hilga I suppose, had 800 euro for rent, utility, aren't cheap attention and the rest, some euros for food, medicine and clothes.

600 euros a month is plenty of money, unless you have a car or a serious medical condition. They are not really poor, only poor by contrast with other germans.

No, it is not enough .inflation is very high

I think GERMANY can spare OAP from utilities bills.

It begins with Portuguese politicians and the endemic corruption culture in Portugal . Portugal is more like an African country and not an EU country

Australia too❤

In Mexico and Central America too. People there can no longer afford to live in their own country because the gringos to the North are now invading and using precious resources like water since they can't afford to live in the US. Sad.

It's your government's mistake, not the rich foreigners mistake

@@bahaamuhsen3254 Portugal only taxes and fines people; zero development; Portugal begs for money which then goes to private pockets while the people remain primitive backwards and jealous of foreigners from 1st world countries

I will do same. I think she is rich in her karma. I decided.

I can’t go on vacations now! And I’m 42!

@@darinherrick9224 Same here. I'am 40 and never had a single vacation since before Covid.

What??? You need to give some statistics about the 60+ generation living 'in a better time,' in most ways, you seem to think. I am 65, and I grew up and lived through my 20s (1960s, 1970s, 1980S) never going to a restaurant, not having any extra money for travel or luxuries. Everything went into saving for basic living needs. Because economics standards improved for a few of the recent decades, most young people in the West do no know how to live without the luxuries they have grown accustomed to. Believe me, many older people like me, know how to live without better than most of the youth of today.

@@ellebelle8515 You were in your 20ies over three decades? Wow, maybe you should market that skill, could be a real cash cow. BTW, I didn’t travel nor go to fancy restaurants in my 20ies either. Yet, my pension entry age is 73 at the moment. So stop complaining, every statistic shows that the Boomers had it brilliantly. If you didn’t, maybe that’s on you.

@@fotter9567ok. I travelled every year in my twenties . Of course I ate out . I don’t even understand -what’s the big deal ? It is just life

@@fotter9567 I am sorry that you have trouble comprehending. All the numbers are there- I grew up during the 60s and 70s, and was in my 20s in the 1980s. If you want to blame previous generations for your troubles, it won't get you anywhere. I have lived most of my life working for charity as well. But, I am not less happy than any of my friends with more wealth. We need enough, but we can't take our wealth with us. Please take care.

Exactly this. I'm a Millennial. Studied in higher education until I was almost thirty, have student debt and during PhD I had a stipend so low that at the worst time with the highest rent for a small studio flat, I had about £300 a month for food, clothes, transport, etc. This was ten years ago. This was absolutely doable. So the woman whining that €600 a month is too little is insane. And at least they get some kind of state assistance. We are now forced to pay taxes that go towards state pension without a guarantee to get state pension of similar purchasing power at age 65 (retirement age when I started paying taxes, so when I started the "game"). Note that PhD level jobs don't pay nearly as well as they did a generation ago. I started out below the national average income despite a science PhD from an amazing university, I was 30 already.

Its true about the rate of change. There is a natural rate which keeps ecosystems in balance and there is an unnatural rate that causes ecosystems to collapse. People put too much focus on the individual and what the individual must do (and corporations are happy to amplify this narrative). But the individual plant cant survive if all the resources of the environment it lives in, get sucked up by weeds. Corporations have become like weeds. Weeds are very good at what they do, very efficient and spread very fast, far and wide. The only way to sustain their unnatural rate of growth is to extract more than anyone else out of the environment. Kings and Queens used to do it with armies, now corporations do it with finance (pension funds are great targets). We know how to spot and kill weeds to keep the ecosystem healthy and in balance. And this is going to be the fate of corporations. Just like it was the fate of Kings and Queens. Gen Z will see the transition through from mindless Growth to mindful Sustainability.

Thank you for watching and sharing your thoughts. 😊

Western culture doesn't value family

The children don't give any money because their parents are in relative poverty. For example, one grandmother wanted to eat a goose - that's pure luxury! Many young people have never cooked a goose at home. Many complain that they can no longer afford expensive bakery bread and store-bought cakes, while the millennials never could. In this documentary, you could also see that the pensioners want to meet people outside instead of inviting others to their home for a café. This doku was not an example that really shows poverty. It just shows high expectations.

Not everyone has or wants family help. Don't ever get in the mindset that is why people have children and they'll always be around. That's thinking from the old agriculture generation in the late 19th century.

@@Goldzwiebel that's what I thought too. But then I thought maybe their living standards have been higher than me all their life and now adjusting to lower standards might be an issue for them? I don't understand it very well. But I'm trying to.

@@Oldeagle66 agreed. They must have planned something for old age, if they were not relying on their children. Some savings/investments Maybe? I cannot imagine relying on my the money from my pension account, unless I'm actively investing much more than the mandated amount in it.

Land in the country is too expensive for them.

@@trollsneedhugs Many farms will gladly accept farm hands to help with production. I've never met a farmer who would NOT share the harvest of the land, if people are active in production.

​

​@@juntak75and how does an older person with bad back, health conditions etc do that exactly. If you are exhausted by a small job in the morning, how do you find an employer?

@@patlong8449 NOT everyone in life can be SAVED -- you will always have LOSERS (aka: they're DEAD no matter what you do with them). So focus on those whom can be SAVED, and leave the GONERS be gone (they have ZERO hope). In the countryside where farms are located -- farmers have DIFFICULTY finding workers (this is true in rich countries, and in poor countries). Even if they do NOT give you decent salaries, then as long as you are a productive worker -- the farmers will usually give you FREE housing and FREE foods. Obviously NOT GREAT; however, better condition than being homeless and dying on the streets.

It’s normal in Finland

She looked so tired and iron deficient! I felt so bad for all of them, it especially her! 😢

No, because we live in a plutocracy and the powers that be will never allow that.

Nordic system is a myth, big differences between Nordic countries. If the goal is the best possible welfare, then the Netherlands and Sweden are the best in Europe.