Creditreform: 7.36 million Germans overindebted as rate rises to 10.58 percent

National picture

Creditreform's "Schuldneratlas" counts 7.36 million adults in Germany as overindebted, 293,000 more than in 2025 (4.1 percent). The overindebtedness rate, which measures the share of adults affected, rose from 10.16 percent to 10.58 percent. The reference date for the evaluation was 1 October. A new calculation method means current case numbers cannot be compared directly with earlier published figures, so the 2025 values were recalculated retroactively. The agency works from anonymised data drawn from official registers, online retailers and other sources.

Previous year (2025)10.16%

202610.58%

Previous year (2025)

10.16 %

2026

10.58 %

Data from the article text

Regional differences

Bremen records the highest rate in the country at 15.89 percent, ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia at 13.19 percent and Saxony-Anhalt at 13.08 percent. Baden-Württemberg, at 8.73 percent, sits among the lowest figures, and Bavaria also ranks at the low end. Hamburg's rate climbed from 11.55 to 12.10 percent, which keeps the city above the national average and places it sixth among the states. About 190,000 people aged 18 and over are overindebted there, roughly 8,000 more than in 2025.

Bremen15.89%

North Rhine-Westphalia13.19%

Saxony-Anhalt13.08%

Baden-Württemberg8.73%

Bremen

15.89 %

North Rhine-Westphalia

13.19 %

Saxony-Anhalt

13.08 %

Baden-Württemberg

8.73 %

Data from the article text

Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate

In Saxony, 9.52 percent of adults are overindebted, just below the national figure. Chemnitz has the highest rate in the state at 12.34 percent and Leipzig follows at 11.93 percent, while the Erzgebirgskreis is lowest at 7.48 percent. Thuringia counts about 170,000 affected people, 7,000 more than a year earlier, and its rate rose by 0.37 percentage points to 9.65 percent, which places the state fifth among the states. Within Thuringia, Jena has the lowest rate at 5.85 percent, while Suhl (12.28 percent), the Kyffhäuserkreis (12.53 percent) and the city of Gera (14.33 percent) form the bottom of the list. Hesse reports about 560,000 overindebted people, and that number is growing. Rhineland-Palatinate reports about 370,000 overindebted adults, a figure that has also risen.

Drivers of the rise

Patrik-Ludwig Hantzsch, who heads economic research at Creditreform, said the financial position of private households has worsened further.

“The financial situation of private consumers has deteriorated further.”

He named the costs of living, energy and housing as the main pressure on household spending. On the labour market, he said that well-paid manufacturing jobs were cut in large numbers over the preceding months.

“Unemployment is becoming an issue again.”

Hantzsch argues that the increase is driven by the crisis. Payment arrears on bills come first, followed by dunning and debt collection proceedings, and legal measures such as enforcement or seizure of claims lock overindebtedness in place. He described late payments as the usual entry point into private overindebtedness.