Inflation
Study: Women cope with inflation better than men
Rising prices and high taxes have groaned consumers in recent years. An IFO study is now investigating how the various population groups can cope with it.
Women in Germany have mastered the crisis better than male consumers in the past four years. This suggests an evaluation of Bank N26 customer data, which was published by the IFO Institute, the Technical University of Munich and the bank.
The anonymized analysis of the account statements of 20,000 randomly selected N26 customers showed that the men achieved higher income growth than the women from early 2021 to the end of 2024. Their income rose by 27.4 percent, in women it was an average of 24.4 percent more. The women were more than able to compensate for this in the expenditure. They also used 34.2 percent less frequent overdraft facilities.
“More conscious handling of finances”
The study authors conclude from the fact that the women have got better through the cost crisis despite lower incomes. This could be attributed to a more conscious handling of your finances.
The analysis of the N26 data showed that in almost all consumer groups the variable consumption expenditure at 23.8 percent from 2021 to 2023 initially increased significantly more than salaries (20.3 percent). In order to cover the higher costs, consumers generally used reserves or took advantage of an overdraft. The savings rate was declining.
The liquidity bottlenecks had reached its peak in 2022 and 2023. It was only in 2024 that salaries ultimately increased more than the variable consumption expenditure, which led to a “moderate recovery of purchasing power”. The use of overdraft facilities began to decrease at the end of 2024, which indicates delayed financial stabilization.
dpa
Source: Stern
