Germany spent nearly €47 billion on citizen's benefit in 2024

Germany spent €46.9 billion on citizen's benefit (Bürgergeld) payments last year. This was a good €4 billion more than in 2023, according to a response from the Federal Ministry of Labor to a minor interpellation from the AfD parliamentary group that was made public on Sunday. The reason for the increase was, in particular, a significant rise in standard rates due to inflation.

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In total, there were around 5.5 million citizen's benefit recipients last year. This also includes children and young people. Almost four million citizens' benefit recipients were considered fit for work. This applies to people who could work at least three hours a day.

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According to the data, 24.7 billion euros went to German citizens' benefit recipients. A further 22.2 billion euros was paid to foreign recipients. The costs for citizens' benefit recipients from Ukraine amounted to 6.3 billion euros. This particularly concerns people who have come to Germany since the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

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AfD member of parliament René Springer criticized that spending on citizen's benefit was “continuing to rise unchecked.” He called for foreigners to be “denied access to citizen's benefit as a matter of principle.”

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The labor market policy spokesman for the Union faction, Marc Biadacz (CDU), saw the increased costs as a “wake-up call.” Germany urgently needs the new basic income support agreed in the coalition agreement, “which focuses on work, strengthens placement, and provides for clear obligations to cooperate,” he told the Handelsblatt newspaper. This is because the citizen's benefit “creates false incentives instead of consistently focusing on taking up work and personal responsibility.”

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The standard rates for citizen's benefit rose sharply in 2023 and 2024 because they took inflation into account disproportionately. This was followed by a zero increase in 2025. Enzo Weber from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) warned against the coalition's plan to pay people from Ukraine who arrived in Germany after April 2025 the lower benefits for asylum seekers instead of citizen's benefit.

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If they were to drop out of the citizen's benefit system, they would also no longer receive counseling, placement, and training, Weber told Handelsblatt. “In the end, that means fewer jobs and higher costs.”

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