Old-age poverty benefit
Recipients of basic income support in old age (Grundsicherung im Alter) per 100 inhabitants aged 65 and over, 31.12.2025
Old-age poverty benefit is more common in the former West: at the end of 2025 there were 4.2 recipients for every 100 people aged 65+ in the West and 1.9 in the East (2.2 times). Long, unbroken GDR working lives give most eastern pensioners a pension above the threshold. Offenbach am Main has the highest rate (11.5), Saalfeld-Rudolstadt the lowest (0.9).
< 2.4%2.4%3.6%4.9%6.1%≥ 7.4%
Inner-German border 1949–1990 ·401 districts · 31.12.2025
Former West
4.2%
excl. Berlin
Former East
1.9%
excl. Berlin
Berlin
8.6%
Germany
4.0%
The East stands at 45% of the West's level (31.12.2025).
By state
- Hamburg10.0%
- Berlin8.6%
- Bremen8.3%
- Nordrhein-Westfalen5.0%
- Hessen4.9%
- Saarland4.5%
- Niedersachsen4.0%
- Schleswig-Holstein3.8%
- Rheinland-Pfalz3.4%
- Bayern3.4%
- Baden-Württemberg3.1%
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern2.2%
- Brandenburg1.9%
- Sachsen1.9%
- Sachsen-Anhalt1.9%
- Thüringen1.5%
31.12.2025
Notes & caveats
- Recipients who have reached the statutory pension age (Altersgrenze) divided by all inhabitants aged 65 and over; the statutory age is slightly above 65 in 2025, so the rate is our approximation and slightly understates Destatis' own quota.
- Recipients are counted where benefits are paid, including people in care homes.
- East (without Berlin), West and state figures are our calculation from the district counts.
- Hanau became an independent city on 1 January 2026; for 2025 it is part of Main-Kinzig-Kreis, whose value the map shows for both.
Show the table
| State | Side | 31.12.2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Saarland | west | 4.5% |
| Berlin | berlin | 8.6% |
| Brandenburg | east | 1.9% |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | east | 2.2% |
| Sachsen | east | 1.9% |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | east | 1.9% |
| Thüringen | east | 1.5% |
| Schleswig-Holstein | west | 3.8% |
| Hamburg | west | 10.0% |
| Niedersachsen | west | 4.0% |
| Bremen | west | 8.3% |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen | west | 5.0% |
| Hessen | west | 4.9% |
| Rheinland-Pfalz | west | 3.4% |
| Baden-Württemberg | west | 3.1% |
| Bayern | west | 3.4% |