Benefit communities in Germany

There was an average of around 2.94 million benefit communities in Germany by April 2024, according to the German Social Code (SGB) II. This was an increase compared to 2023 and the second year in a row that saw an increase.

Number of benefit communities** in Germany from 2014 to 2024

Characteristic	Number of benefit communities
2014	3.32
2015	3.29
2016	3.27
2017	3.26
2018	3.09
2019	2.91
2020	2.9
2021	2.83
2022	2.77
2023	2.91
2024*	2.94

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Release date

July 2024

More information

Region

Germany

Survey time period

2014 to 2024

Supplementary notes

* Annual averages; the value for the 2024 relates to the period from January to April and is preliminary.

** The German term is "Bedarfsgemeinschaften" which is a legal term from German social law, particularly under the Second Book of the Social Code (SGB II), which pertains to basic income support for jobseekers. It refers to a household community where the members are economically dependent on one another and are considered together when determining eligibility and the number of social benefits.

Examples of this are:

Spouses who are not permanently separated
Registered same-sex life partners who are not permanently separated
People in a community of responsibility and commitment (“marriage-like community”).
The benefit community also includes children who live in the household and are younger than 25 years old. Requirement: They are unmarried, able to work and cannot support themselves from the income. Children's income includes, for example, child benefit or maintenance payments.

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