The average salary in Germany is 38,866 euros per year before taxes and deductions. As "Deutsche Welle" reports, this figure was published by the Federal Statistical Office of Germany in Wiesbaden, summarizing data for the past year.
The statistics include the salaries of all residents of the country employed full-time in manufacturing, trade, banking and insurance sectors. But if we take separately the western part of the country and the territory of the former GDR, a huge gap in income levels is striking. In the west, the average annual salary is 40,000 euros, while in the new federal states it is only 28,500. In addition, significant differences in pay between men and women still persist. The average salary for men exceeds 41,000 euros, while for women it does not reach 32,500.
Personal savings of German residents currently amount to approximately 4 trillion euros. This means that each family has on average 40,300 euros in savings. This refers only to monetary assets in the form of bank deposits, insurance policies and securities - the authors of the study, conducted by experts of the Federal Association of People's Banks, did not take real estate and other property into account.
According to this study, the wealthiest are residents of the federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, located in the southwest of the country - here the average amount of monetary savings is 53,500 euros. Households in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, located in the northeast of the country on the territory of the former GDR, have the least savings: there monetary assets average "only" 18,500 euros.
However, ten years ago, shortly after the reunification of Germany, the gap between the richest and poorest regions of the country was even greater. Hence, the authors of the study conclude that differences between the old states and the new states lagging behind them have begun to gradually equalize. If this trend continues, then this year one of the eastern states, namely Brandenburg, will for the first time catch up with one of the western states - Bremen - in terms of monetary savings.
Modern sociology of consumption distinguishes two types of purchases, denoted by the English terms "shopping for" and "shopping around". The term "shopping for" defines a purposeful action when a person goes shopping with a list of what they need: salt, butter, washing powder, etc. It is about satisfying primary needs. This is a quite rational action that does not evoke any particular emotions. "Shopping around" is associated with satisfying completely different needs. A person has no concrete idea of what they want to buy. In this state, the buyer is ready to purchase something on a whim.
How deeply the habit of shopping has become ingrained in Western consumer society is demonstrated by the current situation in Germany. However, one should not rush to condemn modern Western society, which Soviet political economists once branded as a consumer society. Modern sociologists do not make a fundamental difference between buying shampoo and a ticket to the opera.