Almost a quarter of all German residents are unable to afford even a few days away from home each year, with single-parent and larger families worst hit, according to Eurostat, the European Union's statistical agency.
The figures requested by left-wing legislator Sara Wagenknecht reveal that 22.6% lacked the funds for a one-week trip in 2023. Among single parent-families, the proportion rose to 43.2%, and in families with two adults and three or more children to 31.3%.
The share of the population unable to afford a one-week trip rose by 0.4 percentage points on the year. Some 30.4% of singles and 16.8% of couples cannot afford a trip of this kind, with both figures slightly up on the year.
Wagenknecht, who formed her own populist party at the start of the year after breaking away from the hard-left Die Linke, described the figures as disgraceful. "Almost a quarter are unable to take a break for a week," she said.
The leftist leader, who grew up in communist East Germany and subsequently emerged as a high-profile spokesperson for the left in Germany, lashed out at Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left coalition, accusing it of impoverishing millions of Germans.
"We need a sea change in economic and social policies," she said. Her Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) is currently polling at around 6% of the national vote.
Over recent years, the Eurostat data have shown little change in the proportion of German residents unable to take a week-long trip. In 2020, the figure was 22.4%, declining in 2021 to 19.9%, before rising to 22.2% in 2022 and 22.6% last year.