New statistics: Number of parental allowance recipients is falling – file for parental allowance plus | EUROtoday

In Germany, fewer and fewer individuals are receiving parental allowance. The quantity fell by 3.7 p.c to 1.61 million in 2025 in comparison with the earlier yr, because the Federal Statistical Office introduced on Thursday. The variety of folks receiving parental allowance fell for the fourth yr in a row and was 13.9 p.c decrease than in 2021. This decline additionally displays the falling delivery charge in Germany. Almost thrice as many ladies nonetheless obtain parental allowance as males. The help is meant to allow men and women to steadiness their earnings after the delivery in the event that they not work or work much less to take care of the kid.

There was a file for the so-called Parental Allowance Plus. Here dad and mom can obtain help for longer, however the month-to-month quantity is decrease. Last yr, 648,000 folks obtained this assist or deliberate to take action. With a share of 40.3 p.c (2024: 36.7 p.c) of all parental allowance recipients, it is a file excessive.

Hanna Wang from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and mission supervisor on the Rockwool Foundation Berlin sees a development in that extra moms wish to keep in work. “With Parental Allowance Plus there is an additional incentive for both parents to go to work,” she advised the Reuters information company. Because if each dad and mom labored part-time on the identical time, they benefited from a partnership bonus. So far, it has been primarily girls, who on common nonetheless have decrease incomes, who’ve taken parental depart.

Stagnation amongst fathers

A complete of 1.19 million girls obtained parental allowance in comparison with 417,000 males. At 25.9 p.c, the proportion of fathers is nearly as giant as in earlier years. With a mean deliberate 14.9 months, girls additionally obtain parental profit for considerably longer than males (3.8 months). Bettina Kohlrausch, scientific director of the union-affiliated WSI Institute of the Hans Böckler Foundation, sees this as a “gender-specific distribution of care work.” She defined: “This unequal distribution of unpaid care work is associated with significant social risks for mothers, such as low pensions.”

The professional subsequently requires parental allowance to be additional developed and, for instance, to increase the proportion of non-transferable months in parental allowance and to extend the minimal and most charges. In this manner, dad and mom might forego the daddy’s usually increased wage.