Health at risk: People affected by poverty live significantly shorter lives!

On March 17, 2025, the “Poverty and Health 2025” congress took place in Berlin, where the growing health inequality in Germany was discussed. Socio-economic factors have a significant influence on the health situation of the population, as Jens Hoebel from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) explained in his presentation.

Hoebel reported on the increased life expectancy gap between different social classes, which increased from 2003 to 2022. Women in socioeconomically disadvantaged regions have a life expectancy that is 4.3 years shorter than their better-off peers, while men in these regions die 7.2 years earlier. This discrepancy was smaller at the beginning of the 2000s: women lived 2.6 years less and men lived 5.7 years less.

Increased inequalities caused by COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has also led to a decline in life expectancy in disadvantaged areas. The trend towards health inequalities has been exacerbated by the pandemic, with people of low socioeconomic status becoming more ill and dying earlier. These developments were also confirmed in the international study “Health Behavior in School-Aged Children” (HBSC), which shows that young people from socioeconomically weaker families increasingly suffer from psychosomatic complaints.

The subjective well-being and life satisfaction of children from low-income households are significantly worse. In her talk, Anne Kaman highlighted the deteriorating mental health of children and young people, especially during the pandemic. She also found gender differences, with girls reporting stress more often than boys.

Kevin Dadaczynski called for equal health opportunities for children and better school regulations to counteract these inequalities. Rolf Rosenbrock pointed out the increasing socially determined inequalities in health and educational opportunities since 1995.

In addition, Christoph Aluttis from BIÖG commented on the need for an accessible healthcare system for everyone. Claudia Röhl from the Federal Environment Agency discussed the connection between environmental protection and health, in particular that low-income households are more often exposed to environmental pollution. Finally, Ina Czyborra emphasized that health is a democratic project and participation must be promoted.

In a comprehensive analysis of social differences in mortality and life expectancy, the data from 1992 to 2016 from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) were evaluated. It became clear that 13% of women and 27% of men from the lowest income group die before the age of 65. In the highest income group, this proportion is only 8% of women and 14% of men.

The average life expectancy at birth is 4.4 years less for women in the lowest income group than in the highest, and for men the difference is even 8.6 years. There are also significant differences at the age of 65: women have 3.7 years less life expectancy and men 6.6 years less life expectancy between the income groups. Trend analyzes show that social differences in life expectancy have remained relatively stable over the last 25 years, as found in an analysis by the Robert Koch Institute.