The proportion of working women in Germany is growing steadily. Ten years ago, 72 per cent of women were in employment, but this figure has now risen to 75 per cent. This makes the female labour force participation rate in Germany one of the highest in Europe. However, when it comes to female managers, the country is only in the bottom third in Europe at around 29 per cent (EU average: 35%).

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic, the world of work has been changing in favour of flexible working models. Working from home, job sharing, flexible working hours and the promotion of individual working approaches have become increasingly important. Four out of five people expect these and new concepts to give them more freedom and flexibility in their everyday working lives over the next 20 years.

The increasing digitalisation of society is not only affecting the labour market, but also the private sphere, leisure time and interpersonal encounters. Currently, more than three out of four citizens believe that social contacts are suffering or becoming less frequent as a result of this development, leading to people becoming increasingly isolated.

Caring for relatives has become considerably more important in recent years. Within five years, the proportion of Germans who say they care for relatives regularly (at least once a week) has doubled from seven to 14 per cent. The type of care provided ranges from medical care, shopping, transport and other everyday tasks to support with individual challenges.

Angesichts der Herausforderungen des Klimawandels ist eine gesellschaftsübergreifende Anpassung und die Implementierung präventiver Nachhaltigkeitskonzepte unerlässlich. Die Wirtschaft spielt dabei eine Schlüsselrolle, da sie zu den Hauptverursachern von Emissionen zählt. Jedoch glaubt weniger als die Hälfte der Bevölkerung an ein ausreichendes zukünftiges Engagement von Unternehmen für nachhaltige Praktiken.

The willingness of citizens to support social tasks and challenges and actively participate in their implementation is a key element in solving future social challenges. Over four-fifths of citizens welcome more active participation in political processes, for example through citizen dialogues, round tables or forums.

Digital development has undoubtedly expanded our communication channels and significantly changed the way we consume and share information. Accordingly, two out of five German citizens currently state that they are particularly influenced in their thoughts and actions by digital media - one in two agree with this statement when it comes to "traditional media".

Over two thirds of all German citizens believe that in 20 years' time, more free time will be more important for employees than a high salary. Fifteen years ago, not even one in two predicted this. There are only minor differences between the sexes, size of location, age or level of education, but there are differences in income.

For nine out of ten German citizens, poverty in old age will be an unsolved problem in the future. It does not matter how old they are, their level of education or income, whether they live in the country or in the city, or whether they are male or female. Compared to 2016, this concern has increased by six percentage points, and by as much as 14 percentage points compared to 2008.