Some 12.5 million people were classed as poor in 2013, up from 12.1 million a year earlier in the country of about 80 million, the report by Germany's equal welfare association said.
"Poverty in Germany has never been so high and regional fragmentation never so deep as today," said the head of the umbrella organisation, Ulrich Schneider.
Despite the country's robust export-driven economy, Schneider voiced concern that the "gap between rich and poor states in Germany is becoming bigger and bigger".
The study said the northern regions of Berlin, Bremen and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were worst affected, while the south's Bavaria and Baden Wuerttemberg were the best off .... http://news.yahoo.com
