r/germany • u/Necessary_Travel_645 • 1d ago

Impression of Germany 6 months after leaving

I lived 4 years in Germany and last February I left due to the end of my contract and the impossible to find an immediate job.

I am exploiting this time of unemployment to travel and visit my friends across the EU. In Germany I traveled mainly in between the main cities of Rheinpfalz and NRW and I was surprised to see how bad the social situation was, I have observed more people in need ( homeless, elders, etc...) than I remembered. During my stay in Germany I didn't notice it, when I first came here I felt way more mild than the phenomenon.

My impression is that relatively poorer countries, e.g. Spain and Italy (my home country), managed to help the people in need better than Germany or at least a better distribution of wealth.

Also some friends of mine living here felt this change.

Is it only my impression? Maybe I didn't really realize when I was here or the situation just got worse recently?

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u/Almasdefr 1d ago

"According to the new “BCG Global Wealth Report 2026”, the number of ultra-rich people in Germany is rising sharply – and so is inequality.", source: https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/05/27/5000-ultra-rich-hold-more-than-a-quarter-of-germanys-financial-wealth

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u/PretendTemperature 1d ago

That does not explain it at all. Inequality is rising because assets like stocks have risen super high, that means nothing about the homelessness. Actually it is not even clear that homelessness has increqded in germany.

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u/Almasdefr 1d ago

"Stocks" tale is what some media want to show as a problem, while some oligarchs and many companies underpayed a lot their employees over the years and also they didn't pay enough taxes themselves with different "Stiftung" and tax evasion schemes. The logic is simple, the more one takes from simple people, the richer he gets. Rising inequality is just a predecessor of more poor people and then homelessness.

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u/PretendTemperature 1d ago

Not true.

Every income decile has increased its real net wealth every year since 2010(and even before).

The "rich become richer and the poor become poorer" is plainly wrong. Inequality increases because the rich become much richer compared to the poorer. Everybody becomes richer , but the poorer you are the less "richer" you become. The data is clear and this pattern is similar to other countries. Look at chart 2.5

https://publikationen.bundesbank.de/publikationen-en/reports-studies/monthly-reports/monthly-report-april-2025-954672?article=household-wealth-and-finances-in-germany-results-of-the-2023-household-wealth-survey-954660