The gap between the rich and the poor in Germany is likely to be considerably higher than previously believed, according to a new study, which also says that the gap is growing.
Fresh research reveals that the richest 10% of the nation own an average of €1.4m in assets. This amount is 80 times more than the annual median income for German households.
The study by the centre-left Heinrich Böckler foundation accorded with work published earlier this year by the German Economic Institute which found that the unequal distribution of German wealth was the largest in the eurozone.
The researchers pointed out that there is a dearth of information about the country’s super rich which they put down to the abolition of the wealth tax in 1996. Since then, financial institutions have become less aware of how much the very wealthy actually own.
The two reports go some way in countering the notion that Germany enjoyed a relatively low level of social inequality.
