Poor Kids in Rich Germany

More than 2.5 million children in Germany are eligible for welfare benefits. That's twice as many as was the case in 2005, when the German government under Social Democrat Gerhard Schröder introduced cuts to the welfare system. The increase in child poverty is a direct result of those cuts, according to Cologne political scientist Christoph Butterwegge.

"[Charities] and poverty researchers like me warned that this labor market reform would be a slide into poverty and that children would be those mainly affected," Butterwegge said in an interview with the Associated Press.

His comments received backing from the charity Die Tafel, which runs soup kitchens and distributes food packets to poor people all over Germany. Of the 800,000 people nationwide who received food donations from the charity, around 200,000 were children, the group's head, Gerd Häuser, told news agency DPA. And the number of people Die Tafel served had grown significantly, from around 600,000 two years ago, and continued to do so.

Teachers complain

Five to 10 percent of schoolchildren were forced to go without lunch, Häuser said.

"Many teachers have complained that after the fourth period, many children run out of energy, because they haven't had a snack," he said.

Parents' benefits, introduced this year, by Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen, has meant less money for poor families, Butterwegge said. Under the new scheme, all parents, regardless of their income, receive a monthly benefit of 300 euros ($430) for a child's first year. Previously, poor families had been able to collect 300 euros each month for two years.

Butterwegge said the government's family policy was based on the principle that those who don't need money, get more, while money is taken from those who have little. He called for an increase in welfare benefits.

Education system cements poverty

A study published by the Children's Charity of Germany in mid-November reported that every sixth child below the age of seven is dependent on welfare benefits. Since 1990, the year of German unification, child poverty had grown strongly in comparison to other industrialized countries, a 2005 UNICEF study showed.

Butterwegge also said Germany should change its educational system.

"Poverty is … caused by the socially selective school system," he said, referring to the track system that determines at a relatively young age whether or not students will have the chance to study at a university.