The Federal Ministry of Economics writes in a debate on Twitter that “the German pension level is one of the highest in the world”. The raw numbers say otherwise. And the citizens let those responsible feel it too.
The Federal Ministry of Economics made itself the laughingstock of users with a tweet. First, the ministry posted an interview with Minister Robert Habeck. “We can handle the crisis,” reads the headline. A user then wrote that Germany had slipped a long way in an international comparison. We have “the worst pensions” the user puts it in the room.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs then replied: “That is not true. The German economy is stable, the German pension level is one of the highest in the world and German debt is comparatively lower.”
This statement makes many users sit up and take notice. Because the statement about the pension level is not correct on its own. The pension level describes the ratio of the pension to the last net wage. The mere German pension level of almost 50 percent does not rank in the top group in an international comparison.
Germany is below the OECD average and even more behind the EU average. In Austria, Spain or Italy, people are paid more than 80 percent of their last wages.
The reactions of the citizens to the tweet are correspondingly harsh. However, Germany does not have the lowest pension level among the industrialized countries. Great Britain, Poland and Japan, for example, are still well below the German level.
