This is evident from Eurostat data for 2023, which the BSW Bundestag Group requested from the Federal Statistical Office. The figures are available to the Editorial Network Germany (RND). They have been rising steadily for years: while in 2021 there were 10.5 percent who said they could not afford a full meal every other day, this percentage rose to 11.6 percent in 2022. The most affected are single parents (22, 8 percent) and singles (17.4 percent). In total, more than eleven million citizens are affected.
“These figures are an indictment of the federal government,” BSW chairman Sahra Wagenknecht told RND. “More and more people are unable to fully feed themselves and their families. During the tenure at the traffic light alone, more than two million people have been added who cannot even afford a decent meal every other day. “This is probably the most embarrassing social statistic among traffic lights,” Wagenknecht said.
She called for a “supermarket summit in the Chancellery that should call on retail chains to significantly reduce prices to pre-war levels”. “Rather than making meat or other food even more expensive with new taxes and sending millions of Germans to food banks, the traffic light should address the enormous loss of purchasing power in wages and pensions. Many foodstuffs have become far too expensive in our country,” says Wagenknecht.