Pension and Retirement

For the study ´Pensions and Old Age´, the research group Wahlen Telefonfeld GmbH for the Federal Press Office interviewed a total of 1,538 German-speaking adults by telephone in Germany between 15 and 23 January 2020. The sample was a combined fixed and mobile phone sample. The study was based on a survey of the German-speaking resident population of 1,322 randomly selected persons aged 18 and over as well as on an additional survey of 216 randomly selected pensioners. A total of 630 pensioners were thus interviewed. The over-quotation of the pensioners interviewed was to be corrected by a weighting factor linear adjustment for the purpose of showing representative results for German-speaking adults as a whole. The study is divided into five sections: Political framework conditions, pension provision, living situation, lifestyles and social integration, demography.

1. Political framework conditions: Biggest challenge in the coming years; general assessment of the Federal Government; assessment of the Federal Government´s pension policy; assessment of the basic pension; consideration of the interests of different age groups by the Federal Government; own financial security; assessment of the financial future of the pension insurance; assessment of the increase in the retirement age; assessment of measures to finance the pension insurance.

2. Old-age provision: assessment of one´s own level of information on the possibilities of old-age provision; awareness of the three-pillar model for old-age provision; attribution of responsibility for old-age provision in the three-pillar model (state, employers and companies, each individual); assessment of one´s own economic situation; expected economic situation when retired or when retired; comparison of the current economic situation with the period before retirement; occupational pension provision; other forms of private pension provision; type of private pension provision; preference between a higher pension or longer working life, knowledge of the Flexi pension, evaluation of the Flexi pension; increase in pension rights through the Flexi pension a reason to work as a pensioner too; date of the start of pension; evaluation of this date.

3. Life situation: life satisfaction; optimism about the future; assessment of the state of health, satisfaction with the care situation in the place of residence; housing situation: housing status; housing suitable for the elderly; assessment of one´s own housing situation in old age; willingness to use various forms of housing in old age (assisted living, retirement home, senior citizens´ shared flat, multi-generational house).

4. Lifestyles and social integration: evaluation of one´s own lifestyle; frequency of social contacts with family and with friends and acquaintances; frequency of social contacts via telephone, e-mail or social networks; desire for more contact with other people; offers of help from the social environment in case of need; regular care of a sick person or person in need of care; loneliness; association activities in the field of civic involvement; frequency of these association activities; party preference.

Demography: age; sex; employment status; occupational status; pension in addition to employment; pension entitlement; entitlement to a pension; marital status; living with a partner; children; geographical proximity of children; school-leaving qualification or desired school-leaving certificate; completed university studies; household size; number of persons in the household aged 18 and over; German citizenship; use of mobile phones (mobile only): reached at home or elsewhere; reachable on mobile phone via an additional landline number; landline connection in the household; number of telephone numbers via which the respondent can be reached on the landline at home; additional mobile phone number; total number of mobile phone numbers; landline only: mobile phone ownership.

Additionally coded: respondent ID; federal state; Berlin West/ East; size of town; classification pensioner/non-retiree; sample frame (landline, mobile); weighting factors.