Struggling to take a week's break in Bremen, a challenge faced by one out of every three individuals
In Germany, the distribution of households that cannot afford a week's vacation varies significantly by state, with a national average of around 21% of residents unable to afford such a vacation [1].
Key state-level data include:
- Bremen: Approximately 34.2% of residents cannot afford a week-long vacation, well above the national average.
- Bavaria: Only 14.2% of residents report this constraint, notably below the national average.
- Saarland: About 28.8% cannot afford a week's vacation.
- Lower Saxony: Around 25.7% face this issue.
- Rhineland-Palatinate: About 24.8% of residents cannot afford the vacation.
- Thuringen: Approximately 24.2%.
- Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Roughly 24%.
Single-parent families face even greater challenges; for example, in Rhineland-Palatinate, more than 55.7% of single-parent households cannot afford a vacation week, whereas Bavaria reports a far lower rate of about 30% for such families [1].
These figures reveal a clear regional disparity, with economically stronger southern states like Bavaria having a lower share of households unable to afford vacation compared to northern and some western states like Bremen and Saarland [1].
In comparison, Germany’s national average is 21%, reflecting a substantial portion of the population facing economic constraints on leisure travel, despite Germany’s overall high living standards [1].
This state-level variation aligns with broader cost-of-living disparities within Germany, where living expenses are generally higher in wealthier regions like Bavaria and lower in parts of the north and east, but the ability to afford discretionary expenses like vacations does not always track exactly with overall cost differences [2][4].
Thus, states like Bremen stand out for having notably higher rates of vacation unaffordability relative to the national average, while Bavaria shows much lower levels. Single-parent families consistently face the highest difficulties, indicating household composition is another important factor in vacation affordability [1].
Interestingly, the presence of children in a household does not significantly impact the likelihood of being unable to afford a week's vacation, while households with multiple adults are generally less affected [1].
In comparison, countries like Romania, Greece, and Bulgaria have significantly higher percentages of individuals who cannot afford a week's vacation, with rates of 59%, 46%, and 41%, respectively [1].
[1] Source: Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis) [2] Source: Federal Ministry of Finance, Germany [4] Source: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany
- Despite Bavaria's overall higher living standards, the percentage of residents unable to afford a week's vacation is just 14.2%, which is considerably lower than Germany's national average of 21%.
- In stark contrast, personal-finance data from Bremen shows that approximately 34.2% of residents cannot afford a week-long vacation, a rate significantly higher than the national average.
