The average pension for long-term insured persons in Germany at the end of 2021 was 1,370 euros. According to a report by the editorial network Germany (RND), this emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Labor to a request from the left-wing faction. In the east it was only 1255 euros per month, in the west 1423 euros.
A long-term insured person is someone who has paid into the pension insurance for at least 40 years. According to the report, the average pensions for this group of people were highest in Saarland at EUR 1488, followed by North Rhine-Westphalia at EUR 1482 and Hamburg at EUR 1458.
The lowest monthly pensions were in Thuringia with 1226 euros, Saxony-Anhalt with 1237 euros and Saxony with 1242 euros. Figures for 2022 were therefore not yet available.
The left-wing member of the Bundestag Sören Pellmann described the pension differences between East and West as alarming. In all East German states, the pensions of long-term insured persons are lower than in the West German states, he told the RND newspapers. The wage gap on the labor market continues “as a deep pension gap”.
However, the pensions are far too low overall, Pellmann continued to criticize. “An average of 1,370 euros in pension for at least 40 years of hard work” is “a scandalously low amount,” said the left-wing politician, who is also his party’s representative for East Germany.
Pellmann pointed out that pensions in Austria are on average 800 euros higher than in Germany. This is possible because all employees there pay into the statutory pension. (AFP)
