On April 30th 2024, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), published a reel on their official Instagram channel where they had this claim: “We (Germany) are the biggest net contributors, but are poorer, have to work longer, and we have less home ownerships than most of the EU-members”. They also showed statistics to prove the claim in the video but did not give any sources or evidence for the numbers. After contacting the AfD and asking them to send the sources, they did not answer. Every topic that is named in the claim will be checked separately.
The AfD is a right-wing populist party in Germany that is known for its critical stance towards the European Union and immigration policies. The AfD currently holds 77 seats in the German Bundestag. This represents 10,47% of all seats. They hold 9 seats in the European Parliament for the identity and democracy group, which represents 8,37 % of all seats.
AfD program in 90 seconds:
Germany’s net contribution in the EU
The following part is evaluating the claim that Germany stands as the European Union’s most substantial net contributor, which is calculated by the contributions minus the money they have received. In the video, the AfD claims that Germany contributes 16 billion EUR (net) to the European Union, without a data source.
Based on statistics from Statista in 2021, Germany is indeed the largest net contributor of the European Union. In the 2021 budget, Germany contributed 25,6 billion EUR more than it received from the EU. This is more than the AfD said in the video, but the statistics are from 2021 and the video from 2024.
Additionally, Germany contributes 0,58 percent of its Gross National Income (GNI) to the EU budget, making it the largest net contributor. According to Eurostat the GNI is the sum of incomes of residents of an economy in a given period. It is equal to GDP minus primary income payable by resident units to non-resident units, plus primary income receivable from the rest of the world.
Concluding, you can say that even though Germany is the biggest net contributor to the EU, it has to be regarded that it is important not only to look at the absolute amount of payments made by states, but also to relate them to the respective economic strength and population size.
Germany’s wealth compared to the EU
Regarding the claim that Germany is poorer than most of the EU countries, EUfactcheck looks at the country’s wealth and compares it to the other countries.
There are 3 ways to look at a country’s wealth: looking at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Germany has a GDP of 4.085 billion USD or 48,756 USD per capita, which converts to 3.730,42 billion EUR and 44,523 EUR, making it one of the world’s largest economies, currently ranked 4th globally.
Another way to find out a country’s wealth is by looking at the Net National Wealth. Germany’s net national wealth contributes significantly to global wealth. In 2021, Germany’s share of global wealth was 18,5%. While wealth distribution varies across countries, Germany’s overall wealth remains substantial. It is ranked first in the EU with a total wealth of 18,27 trillion U.S. dollars, which converts to 16,68 trillion euros.
A third indicator of wealth is income and purchasing power. The average annual net earnings for Germany are 66.635,37 EUR for the year 2022, according to Euronews. With this amount, Germany ranks 7th among all EU countries.
Upon meticulous analysis, the assertion that Germany is “poorer” than most other EU members is found to be incorrect. Germany’s economic vigor, significant net wealth, and high GDP per capita affirm its strong position within the European Union, dispelling the notion of economic inferiority within the bloc.
Retirement age
To check whether Germany has to work longer than most of the EU-members, EUfactcheck looks at the legal retirement age of Germany and compares it to the other EU member states. Another possible way would be to check the length of working hours in Germany and compare it, but EUfactcheck did not use this method because the context of the video indicates that it concerns the retirement age.
According to the Finnish Centre for Pensions, 5 of the 27 EU countries have a legal retirement age of 66, including Germany. Five other EU countries have a retirement age over 66 years, while the remaining 19 have a retirement age of less than 66 years. In conclusion, Germany belongs to the top 10 latest retirement ages.
However, besides this statement, the AfD also shows a bar graph in their Instagram post with statistics from 4 countries: Germany, France, Greece, and Poland.
On this bar chart, the AfD party claims that the retirement age in Germany is 63 years. It is unclear if they mean the legal age or the average retirement age. They also don’t mention a source or the date from which the statistics come.
Statistics from the Finnish Centre for Pensions show the legal retirement age in different European countries in 2024. Germany is indicated by the letters ‘DE’ and has a legal retirement age of 66.
This doesn’t match with the bar graph from AfD’s Instagram post. The other countries mentioned in the graph also don’t match. Since the numbers don’t compare at all, EUfactcheck also looks at the average retirement age, to see if the AfD used those numbers instead.
A map of Europe from Statista, dated 2020, shows the average retirement age of different European countries. In this map, the average of Germany is 63, which does match with the bar graph from AfD.
However, the other countries mentioned don’t match with this map. To sum up, the statement of Germany having to work longer seems correct, but keep in mind that the retirement age is not a fixed number, therefore comparing data like this can be confusing. Regardless, the numbers and statistics are false.
Homeownership
While the claim that Germany has fewer homeowners is factually true, the context in which it is used is misleading. Homeownership statistics can be surprising. Richer countries actually rank lower in homeownership rates and poorer ones rank higher. Homeownership does not correlate with wealth. This is crucial context for the statement because it is clear that AfD used it as one of the indicators of wealth.
According to data provided by Eurostat, most homeowners are in Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Lithuania. At the bottom of the list are Germany, Austria, Denmark, France and Sweden. When we look at this, we can make the connection that this chart is not related to the country’s wealth. In relation to the previously mentioned average annual net earnings, out of the top 10 EU countries whose citizens have the highest annual salary, seven of them are in the bottom ten regarding homeownership statistics.
This chart shows the overcrowding rate in European Union countries in 2021. The country with the most homeowners is also the one which, according to the latest data, has the biggest overcrowding rate in Europe. Overcrowding is one of the ways of measuring the quality of housing. A household is overcrowded if it doesn’t have enough rooms. Out of the first ten countries which have the most homeowners, seven of them are also in the first ten in overcrowding rate, which means they don’t have quality housing, therefore they can be categorized as poorer countries.
Knowing this context, the data on homeownership actually proves that Germany is a rich country.
Conclusion
In applying the European Journalism Training Association (EJTA) methodology to the claims made by the Alternative for Germany (AfD), we find that two out of the four statements have been deemed not correct. While the statement that Germany is the biggest net contributor is true, the facts supporting the claim are false. Specifically, the claims regarding Germans having to work longer than most other EU countries and Germans having less homeownership than most EU countries do not align with the current data and context.
Given this assessment, according to the EJTA standards, a claim is categorized as “mostly false” if a significant portion of the statement is found to be untrue, even if some elements are correct. Therefore, due to the video from the AfD is not considered trustworthy, the overall claim made by the AfD in the context provided can be classified as “mostly false.”
RESEARCH | ARTICLE | Artur Сhulkov, (Mariupol State University, Ukraine), Anne De Wever, (Thomas More University, Belgium), Nike Tecklenborg, (University of Applied Sciences, Germany), Nina Čepo, (Faculty of Political Science, Croatia) with lecturer coach Núria Simelio (Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain).
This factcheck was produced during the Blended Intensive Programme EU Elections Lab at the School of Journalism in Utrecht, The Netherlands
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