Foreign nationals now make up over a third of Germany's elderly welfare recipients

Germany's basic old-age security program has reached its highest enrollment level to date, according to a government response to a parliamentary inquiry. While the overall pool of claimants has expanded, the most notable growth is among foreign-born seniors, whose numbers rose from roughly 152,000 to about 279,000, marking an 83.3% surge. German recipients increased as well, now numbering close to 492,000.

Ukrainian nationals experienced a dramatic rise, climbing from just over 19,000 to more than 106,000. Additionally, beneficiaries from the eight principal non-European asylum-origin countries grew from roughly 23,900 to 36,600, a 52.8% increase.