The Year 2025 in Review

The brief survey reviewing the year 2025 was conducted by the polling firm Verian on behalf of the Press and Information Office of the Federal Government. During the survey period from December 3, 2025, to December 9, 2025, German-speaking residents aged 14 and older in private households were interviewed by telephone (CATI) on the following topics: Satisfaction with political developments in Germany in selected policy areas, satisfaction with the work of the Federal Government and Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz, assessment of the year 2025, outlook for the year 2026, and pressing issues. Respondents were selected through a multistage random sample as part of a multi-topic survey, including both landline and mobile phone numbers (dual-frame sample). Satisfaction with political developments in Germany in selected policy areas (labor market policy, economic policy, foreign policy, health policy, education policy, domestic security, pension policy, family policy, fiscal policy, defense policy, energy policy, refugee policy, agricultural policy, climate policy); overall satisfaction with the work of the federal government in 2025; overall satisfaction with the work of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz in 2025; assessment of the year 2025 compared to 2024 for the respondent personally and for Germany; outlook for 2026: optimism or concerns for the coming year regarding political developments in Germany; what inspires optimism (open-ended question); what are the concerns (open-ended question); issues the federal government should focus on more in the coming year (open-ended question, maximum of 2 responses). Demography: sex; age; highest level of education; occupation; occupation in detail; household size; number of people in the household aged 14 and over; party preference; eligibility to vote; net household income; internet use. Additionally coded were: Consecutive respondent number; weighting factor; interview date; location size (BIK regions, political location size); federal state; survey area west/east; survey by mobile or landline.