Of the 27 EU nations, Germany came 19th in the study done by German think tank Berlinpolis. Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands ranked the highest. However, Germany did manage to improve its ranking from 2006 in the same study by four places.
“Trade unions, churches and social federations need to especially take a stronger position and take more responsibility,” said Daniel Dettling, the chairman of Berlinpolis.
The survey evaluated five categories with more than 35 empirical indicators, including income distribution, job market participation, education and opportunities for job training, equality of the sexes and generational gap.
Germany fared the worst with its generational issues. No other country had a lower ratio of youth to pensioners and Germany fell well below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman. With the German average being 1.48 children per woman, the report noted that the prognosis for improvement in this category was grim.
The category Germany ranked highest was in equality of the sexes, but it still only managed to squeek into the top third of EU nations with the nineth spot.
Among the biggest problems facing Germany according to the study are on those of integration between education systems and work opportunities for immigrants.
With populations declining across Europe, the study noted that the EU will become more dependent on foreign workers, yet all states fared worse in this category compared to previous years.
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