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by thiago_fm 869 days ago
Whoever said that in Germany people make enough are nuts.

Let's suppose you have 2 kids. If you get a rental contract in Berlin Today, in 2023. The ideal space according to the government and known research is 30m2 per person, you'd need an apartment with 120m2.

120m2 apartments are like 2500 euros per month, more than half of your salary post-taxes. Tenants typically ask for rents to be 30% of your income, you'd have trouble finding an apartment.

Here's why people also don't have kids in Germany, salaries are terrible.

I've been living here in Berlin for almost 10 years. And only after 8 years I could have a decent life here, even making definitely above the market salaries. And by decent I mean, better than my third-world country.

People won't be willing to move to Germany if they'll live in a shoebox and have no disposable income. They'd rather stay home where their parents, family and friends are, save money and speak their local language.

And without Immigrants, given that Germans in general don't want to reproduce because they can't afford having kids, the country's population size will start decaying.

This post-war mindset from a few people in Germany that people need to get paid just enough to buy Bread and live in a shared flat is what is sinking that country.

2 comments

>Whoever said that in Germany people make enough are nuts.

You make enough if you're some senior manager at Siemens, Bosch, Porsche, BMW, DHL, DB, Lufthansa, Infineon, big-pharma, etc. one of these companies who are Germany's FAANGs.

If you're a low to mid-level IC, no.

Nah, only real execs(director+) make good salary at those companies, rest are comparable to SWE ICs in scaleups.
That's still very good money for German wages, also keep in mind that senior managers at those big wealthy German companies don't do shit all day while having a iron clad job security. Just send emails, drink coffee, have chats with other managers, then drive home, while ICs at scale-ups have a lot more work, stress and responsibility on their shoulders of keeping the ship afloat and the services running.
> 120m2 apartments are like 2500 euros per month

That's only true if you want to live within the most popular areas of Berlin, within the ring and in fancy kiezs. There are many areas around that you can easily aford a 120m2 apartment, do not spread misinformation please.

Sure, not everybody can raise a family in mitte or prenzlauer berg with a single salary. But that kinda makes sense, no ?

>within the ring

So within the city of Berlin lol

The popular areas within the ring amount to single digit percentages of the Berlin metropolitan area.

The city of Berlin was confined to that region during the 20s.

https://www.myleszhang.org/2020/01/31/berlin/

Let me be clear: I'm not happy about the rent situation, or about the real estate investment market.

But saying that people are not having kids because you cannot feed a 4 person family on a single salary while living in mitte, yeah, breaking news.