Health, education, life chances: The poorer the home, the greater the risk for children and adolescents. Anyone who comes from a socially weaker environment, as a minor has a significantly increased risk such as a mental illness. Concretely threatened by poverty is almost every sixth child.

The origin also has an effect on the educational path: more than half of the Hauptschule students in Germany live with parents who even have a Hauptschulabschluss (42 percent) or no general education (14 percent). For high school students, the opposite is true: in 2017, the vast majority of these students (65 percent) had parents with a high school diploma or college entrance qualification.

The figures come from the "Datenreport 2018", which was presented on Wednesday in Berlin. The study examines the life situation of children in Germany in particular from numerous points of view: the family situation and the economic situation were considered as well as the leisure time behavior, the educational path taken and the social commitment of children and adolescents.

Details about the data report

Which data was evaluated?

Results of official statistics were combined for the report with empirical findings of social research. It is therefore a new evaluation of already collected data. For example, results of the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) are used.

Are the results representative?

Yes, the database used allows for representative conclusions for the population groups examined.

Who is considered poor in the study?

According to an EU definition, people are considered to be "impoverished" if they have such low (material, cultural and social) resources that they are excluded from the way of life that is minimally acceptable in the Member State where they live ". For the study, families are considered at risk of poverty if their net income is less than 60 percent of their median income in Germany.

Who was involved in the study?

The data report is a joint publication of the Federal Statistical Office, the Federal Agency for Civic Education, the Social Science Research Center Berlin and the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).

The most important results:

  • The number of minors has dropped by 14 per cent over the past twenty years. In 1997, 15.7 million children and adolescents still lived in Germany, compared to just 13.4 million in 2017.
  • Although the health situation of the children has improved overall - in individual cases it depends heavily on the economic situation of the parents. "It starts before birth," the researchers write: "About 30 percent of mothers with low socioeconomic status smoke during pregnancy, and only 2 percent of mothers with high socioeconomic status."
  • The health inequalities then continue in the further life. For example, minors from poorer homes often have mental health problems or behavioral problems . In addition, they exercise less often , eat less healthy and are often overweight . "Parents who have a high income, are easier to finance a healthy lifestyle," says Mareike Bünning of Science Center Berlin: "In addition, they also usually have a higher education level and thus a greater knowledge of health-promoting behavior."
  • How much students feel stressed depends greatly on the type of school they attend. Around half of the students feel "mostly exhausted" after class. Especially high school students find the school particularly stressful and have the least fun here.

"The living conditions of children in Germany are very different," says Thomas Krüger, President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education: What could reach children in life, depends on numerous factors - but of central importance is still the socioeconomic status of the parents ". The fact that nearly one in six minors is at risk of poverty, "just for a rich economy such as Germany, a more than shameful findings."

"Poor progress has been made in reducing poverty in recent years", the authors of the study criticize - on the contrary: Compared to 2008, the proportion of children at risk of poverty is stagnating. Children and adolescents with single parents are the most vulnerable. Another risk factor is a migration background of the family.

"Rising child poverty makes cultural, social and political participation difficult," the researchers write, warning that "material shortages can lead to social stigmatization." This in turn has an impact on further educational opportunities - a vicious circle.