Context: State-run Belarusian and Russian media claim that Germany is scaling back holiday commerce because of a lack of money. The local association of Christmas market organizers disputes this, noting that nearly 7,000 festive venues will welcome visitors this year. Only 12 of the markets that were open last year did not reopen in 2025.
On December 9, 2025, News.by host Ekaterina Tikhomirova spoke of an “economic nosedive that will be harder for Germany to pull out of with each passing day” on the program “Katyushin Raschet” (Katyusha'a Calculation):
“One in six Germans lives below the poverty line. Of them, only 11% do not work. All the others have an income but still cannot afford basic necessities.”
These conclusions are based on a manipulative interpretation of the statistics. Tikhomirova is relying on the at-risk-of-poverty rate — the share of people whose income is below 60% of the median. In Germany, that figure is indeed about 15%. But the indicator itself does not mean extreme destitution or an inability to cover basic needs.
It is also important to take into account differences in methodology. What counts as “poor” in Germany and in Belarus are two very different things. In German statistics, everyone with an income below €1,380 a month is classified as being at risk of poverty. This is a relative indicator tied to overall income levels in the country.
Belarus uses a different benchmark — the subsistence minimum budget. According to 2024 data, that is about 400 rubles, or roughly €120 a month. Under this method, about 3.5% of the population falls below the poverty line. If the indicator for Belarus is calculated using Eurostat’s methodology — based on average per capita disposable income for the previous year — the share of people in poverty in Belarus jumps fourfold, to almost 12%. Everyone in Belarus whose income is below 600 rubles a month (about €164) ends up below the poverty line.
The claim that most Europeans living below the poverty line are working people is also false. According to European statistics, roughly one in five people in poverty is employed. The rest are pensioners, young people, the unemployed, and those who are outside the labor market and not looking for work.
The WTF team has already debunked a pre-holiday fake story about Germany that was pushed by Belarusian state television. In early December, CTV news anchor Anastasia Lavrinchuk claimed that the country had been left without festive lights because of economic troubles.
