Even in old age, women in Germany have significantly lower incomes than men. With gross annual income of 17,814 euros, women aged 65 and over in 2021 were well behind men of the same age, who came to 25,407 euros.
The gender-specific income gap, also known as the “gender pension gap”, was 29.9 percent, as reported by the Federal Statistical Office. Important reasons for the gap are the higher part-time rate among women, lower-paid jobs and more frequent time off, for example to look after children.
Retirement income includes retirement and survivor pensions and pensions as well as pensions from individual private provision. Around 29 percent of the women surveyed received survivor’s pensions, i.e. payments from their deceased partners’ pensions. If these benefits were excluded from the analysis, the gender-specific pension gap would increase to 42.6 percent. Among men, only every 20th received a survivor’s pension.
Because of their lower income, women are more at risk of poverty in old age and more often overwhelmed by housing costs than men. The statisticians also expect significant differences in retirement benefits in the future, because 47.4 percent of women continue to work part-time and are therefore much more likely to work part-time than men. The rate increases to 63.6 percent when children live in the same household.
Gender Pension Gap Statistics 2021
