Spending on social welfare rose by 6.5 percent last year.
The social welfare agencies spent 14.4 billion euros net on benefits according to Book Twelve of the Social Security Code, as the Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday in Wiesbaden.
This includes, for example, basic security in old age or reduced earning capacity, as well as care assistance.
According to the information, more than half of the net expenditure in 2020 made up the basic security in old age and in the case of reduced earning capacity, which is financed entirely from reimbursement funds from the federal government to the states. The total rose by around ten percent to 7.6 billion euros. The Federal Office relies on information from the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
The Federal Office recorded the largest percentage increase year-on-year with 14 percent to 4.3 billion euros in care assistance.
In contrast, the expenditure on assistance with subsistence has fallen by almost 22 percent to 1.2 billion euros.
Aid for health, to overcome particular social difficulties and help in other situations fell by almost one percent to 1.3 billion euros.
This can be used to pay for household help in difficult situations, for example.
Integration assistance for people with disabilities has been included in its own statistics since January 2020, as it was regulated in Book Nine of the Social Security Code.
In the past year, a net 20.8 billion euros were spent on this, 7.8 percent more than in the previous year.