5.5 million recipients: Expenditure on citizen’s allowance rises to 47 billion

The amount of the citizen's allowance has risen sharply over the past two years due to inflation. This will cost the state around ten percent more in 2024 than before. Higher standard rates are now a thing of the past.

Payments for people receiving citizen's income rose to €46.9 billion last year—an increase of approximately €4 billion. This is according to the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs' response to a parliamentary question from the AfD in the Bundestag.

Last year, there were a total of around 5.5 million recipients, including children and young people, of whom almost 4 million were of working age—that is, people who are generally able to work at least three hours a day. According to government figures, approximately €24.7 billion, or 52.6 percent of the total, was paid out to Germans, while €22.2 billion was paid out to people without a German passport (47.4 percent). This distribution is roughly the same as the previous year.

The group of foreign recipients includes several hundred thousand Ukrainians and their children who have fled to Germany since 2022 to escape the Russian war of aggression. According to the ministry, around 6.3 billion euros flowed to them in 2024. Accordingly, 7.4 billion euros were paid out to people from the eight most important asylum countries.

AfD wants to deny foreigners citizen's allowance

AfD MP René Springer criticized: "Expenditure on the citizen's income continues to skyrocket uncontrollably." He combined this with the demand: "Foreigners should be fundamentally denied access to the citizen's income."

However, Enzo Weber of the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) of the Federal Employment Agency disagrees on both points. He argues that the recent increase in the total amount can be explained, among other things, by a significant increase in the standard rates in 2023 and 2024 due to inflation. This year, a freeze followed, and this is also expected for 2026.

"So this isn't a trend that will continue in the foreseeable future," Weber said. Furthermore, the number of employable benefit recipients has been declining since fall 2024. "This is a reversal of the trend," the scientist said.

Weber argues that it's plausible that almost half of the recipients of the citizen's allowance are foreign nationals. People who were already employed in Germany are usually entitled to unemployment insurance benefits for one year if they become unemployed and often find new employment during that time. Refugees, on the other hand, enter the German labor market unprepared and start with significant disadvantages.

Basic security as a worthwhile investment?

That's why it's important that people receiving basic income support receive assistance to get started in the job market, Weber said. This isn't the case in the benefits system for asylum seekers. "We shouldn't view basic income support as a problem, but rather as a tool to get people fit," Weber said. "We first need to invest to bring the costs down. Nothing is as expensive as structural unemployment."

According to IAB findings, 100,000 fewer recipients mean around three billion euros more for public budgets. The employment rate among Ukrainian refugees is currently growing – from 24.8 percent in October 2023 to 33.2 percent recently. However, integration with language courses and training should be accelerated, Weber said. The Federal Court of Auditors also recently criticized deficiencies in the placement of people on the citizen's allowance.

The German Trade Union Confederation opposed the AfD's demands and reiterated that Germany needs immigration. "Instead of sensible policies, the AfD only offers exclusion and hatred, regardless of whether it concerns migrants or people with a legitimate claim to welfare benefits," said board member Anja Piel. "Everyone has a right to secure their existence in times of need. Social progress is the foundation of our functioning democracy."

The German Social Association also countered the AfD. It's not productive to pit social groups against each other—whether it's working people against pensioners and people on citizen's income, or people with and without German passports, explained SoVD chairwoman Michaela Engelmeier. "This is actually extremely dangerous, because it fuels the division of society and serves as a toxic breeding ground for debates based on envy, hatred, and incitement."