Published December 31, 2022 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Turning the Tide: A Proposal to Tackle Child Poverty in Germany

Authors/Creators

  • 1. Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

Description

Even though Germany is one of the world’s most powerful economies, (relative) child poverty is a longstanding issue. Over the last couple of decades, the German government has introduced various measures to tackle it. However, one in five children in Germany is still considered poor. In this paper, I will look at the numbers of children and adolescents that are affected by poverty and explain what it means to grow up poor in Germany. I’ll then make the case for a new proposal that aims to ensure that all children and adolescents have a socially inclusive standard of living. The proposal, developed jointly by the project ‘Family and Education: Creating Child-Centered Policies’ of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, an expert advisory panel and a Young Expert Team, aims at drastically reducing the number of children, adolescents and their families in Germany who are affected by poverty.

Notes

Tobias Lentzler studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Witten/Herdecke University, Germany. He worked as manager of the project 'Family and Education: Creating Child-Centered Policies' at the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh, Germany until June 2022. He is now a PhD student in the history of ideas at the Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany. He wishes to thank his colleagues Antje Funcke, Sarah Menne, and Mirjam Stierle for their valuable advice on the text. In addition he wishes to thank Najid Ahmad, Alberto Minujin, Kieran Donaghue, and Thomas Pogge for their helpful remarks and suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. No potential conflict of interest exists in respect of the research, authorship or publication of this essay.

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