By Rainer Geißler

German society is a modern, open-minded society: Most people are well-educated and enjoy a high standard of living, as well as sufficient freedom to be able to plan their lives as they themselves see fit. Nonetheless, like in other major industrial nations, German society is facing the challenge of solving problems of demographic trends, in particular the aging of society. Nor, 20 years after reunification, have the social consequences of the division of Germany been fully overcome. In the course of globalization Germany has taken a path that has made it a modern immigrant society with increasingly ethnic cultural diversity, and has increased its efforts to integrate the migrants in the nucleus of society. The socio-economic change over the past few years – accelerated through the consequences of the worldwide economic and financial crisis – has led to the emergence of new social risk situations and to greater diversification in society in terms of economic living conditions looming. The Federal Government’s latest report on poverty and wealth states that one in four Germans counts as poor or has to be protected from poverty through state subsidies. The EU defines those households as “poor” that have less than 60 percent of median income at their disposal. At the moment that is around 780 euros for people living on their own.