Abuse of Germany’s welfare system appears to be considerably more widespread than the authorities have previously reported.
A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs told Die Welt that “a high number of unreported cases must be assumed”.
Last year, the employment agency processed more than 133,000 cases involving suspected welfare fraud, and in 110,000 cases the suspicion was confirmed, many of which resulted in criminal prosecutions.
But the actual extent of welfare fraud is even greater, according to the ministry, partly because there are no data for job centres operating under purely municipal administration.
According to the ministry, the financial damage cannot be quantified. Neither the Ministry of Labour nor the Ministry of the Interior has “structured data that would allow the losses to be calculated”, the spokesperson said.
It is impossible to predict the potential savings from the measures now being planned by the federal government.
Norway, too, has seen a generous welfare state give rise to extensive fraud. Money is flowing out of public agencies and into criminal networks, senior police official Grete Lien Metlid claimed in Aftenposten in November. Metlid is a police inspector and head of the Oslo Police section for violent and sexual offences.
It is also well known that some immigrants, including from Somalia, bring several wives with them, from whom they subsequently divorce under Norwegian law, enabling the women and their children to qualify for housing benefits and other welfare payments as single mothers. They often remain married under Islamic law.
Representatives of the Somali community claim that the high divorce rate among Somali women in Norway is due to our generous welfare schemes and greater rights for women. It is also claimed that people from Somalia tend to have a more relaxed attitude towards marital breakdown.
As many as 5.2 million people in Germany were receiving basic income support for jobseekers, formerly known as Bürgergeld (citizens’ income), at the beginning of 2026. On 1 July, the governing coalition of the CDU/CSU Union parties and the Social Democratic Party (SPD) introduced a new system of basic income support that will also provide job centres with more effective tools to combat welfare fraud.
Around half (approximately 47–48 per cent) of recipients of German social assistance are foreign nationals. If immigrants who have acquired German citizenship are also included, it is estimated that around 62 per cent of everyone living in households receiving such benefits have an immigrant background. The figures for Norway are even worse.
79 prosent av all sosialhjelp går til ikke-vestlige innvandrere
In this connection, the coalition has announced an “action plan to combat welfare fraud”.
“Welfare fraud often goes undetected because the various authorities involved are not networked, or are insufficiently networked,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Social Affairs said.
Job centres are legally required to report suspected cases of undeclared work to the Financial Control Unit for Illegal Employment. Labour Minister Bärbel Bas (SPD) claims that such reports have so far been handled “very differently, depending on the job centre and its workload”.
EU citizens also receive social benefits financed by German taxpayers, including people residing illegally in the country. The government wants to tighten the rules in this area.
The EU’s requirements are not the main problem, since German social assistance exceeds the standards required by Brussels.
Current legislation provides that five years of residence is sufficient to qualify for benefits. According to Daniel Thym, Professor of Law at the University of Konstanz, this is the result of a previous “overimplementation of European law”.
As early as 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that EU citizens acquire permanent residence rights “only if their residence is materially lawful, for example by being employed to a sufficient extent”. Germany therefore went beyond the requirements of EU law.
Germany’s largest party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), put the issue on the political agenda several months ago. Among other things, AfD has called for benefits to be denied to persons wanted by the police.
The coalition is now adopting “almost word for word what the AfD parliamentary group introduced to the Bundestag in October 2025”, says René Springer, AfD’s spokesman for labour and social affairs.
In other words, according to Springer, the German government is following the lead of the very party it despises.
The ministry, however, maintains that the ideas originated within its own ranks. Sören Link (SPD), the Mayor of Duisburg, said he was optimistic that the various measures would represent “a major step towards greater social justice”.