Germany: Rich people own over 60 percent of total assets

Germany: Rich people own over 60 percent of total assets

According to the European Central Bank, the richest ten percent of the German population own more than 60 percent of the country's total wealth. This distribution shows a clear inequality in the distribution of wealth. The data published by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection refers to the Gini coefficient, which lies between 0 (equal distribution) and 1 (maximum inequality) and takes household wealth into account.

Compared to other Euro countries, Germany has high inequality as the Gini coefficient is 0.77, which is above the average for the other Euro countries. The different proportions of home ownership and rental relationships across countries contribute to this inequality. In Germany, more than half of the population lived in rent in 2022, while this proportion was lower in other EU countries.

The bottom 50 percent of the population owns around 2.3 percent of the total wealth, which corresponds to approximately 0.4 trillion euros. In contrast, the top ten percent of the population own around 61.2 percent of the total wealth, which corresponds to assets of 10.5 trillion euros. These figures clearly show the discrepancy in the distribution of wealth.

It is noteworthy that the wealth of both demographic groups increased from 2011 to 2024, with the upper class seeing a higher percentage increase. The assets of the bottom 50 percent consist primarily of low-risk investments such as savings accounts, while the richest ten percent often own real estate and business assets. This underlines the clear differences in the wealth structures of the different sections of the population.