The German government reports that the number of minors entitled to basic income support fell to 1.64 million in December 2025. A year earlier, that figure stood at 1.75 million. Of the minors receiving benefits, nearly 860,000 held German citizenship, while more than 780,000 were foreign nationals.
The shares remained at similar levels, with a slight increase among German nationals to around 52 percent. Among minors with foreign citizenship, the share was about 48 percent. Overall, the rate of minors receiving benefits under the Social Code II stood at 11.7 percent.
For children with German citizenship, the rate was 7.2 percent, while for foreign children it was 36.8 percent. According to a report by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), there were around 180,000 fewer foreign recipients of basic income support in March 2026 than a year earlier.
Source: www.sueddeutsche.de
