Twice a year the Emnid opinion poll institute interviews 1000 Germans on their expectations of the future on behalf of ARAG . The most recent survey was marked by pessimistic answers which reflect respondents´ fear of the economic crisis. Against the background of the 60th anniversary of the Basic Law, Germans were also asked on the future of the German economic system. The result: 55.2 % of interviewees think that the social market economy is at risk as a consequence of the financial crisis.
It jumps to the eye that 62.3 % of respondents older than 60 years of age believe that the ongoing recession could seriously damage the social market economy. In the age group between 30 and 39 years of age 52.6 % think so.
Just 4.4 % of all respondents think that the Federal Republic of Germany is today in as good a shape as never before in its sixty-year-long history. Above-average positive, however, is the judgement given by many self-employed people: 10.1 % of these believe that Germans are better off today than in the past in spite of the current crisis.
Taking into account all German Federal states it turns out that there is more a north-south division in the assessment of the above situation than a west-east divide. In the south of Germany 8.4 % think that the current economic situation is good as compared to the past sixty years. In the north of Germany only 4.3 percent of respondents share this opinion.
27.0 % of Germans have a relaxed view of the economic situation in Germany and think that the sixty-year history of Germany is marked by continuous ups and downs and that this is something quite normal. The survey also revealed that such a kind of relaxed attitude is related to the level of education people have. 19% and 21.3% of pupils and adults respectively without professional education think that these ups and downs of the economy are a common phenomenon, while the respective percentages among people with basic and middle-level education are 24.9% and 26.7% and among those with A-levels or university diplomas this percentage amounts to 34.6%. 