# DE Social Mobility

**Last Updated:** 2026-04-20
**Update Method:** Manual — Destatis (annual), OECD EAG via SDMX API (annual), PISA (triennial)
**Coverage:** Educational stratification by parental background, intergenerational mobility — Germany

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## 🎯 BEST ESTIMATE

| Metric | Value | Confidence | Last Updated |
|--------|-------|------------|--------------|
| **Gymnasium rate — high-education parents** | **61%** | 90% | 2015 (Destatis) |
| **Gymnasium rate — low-education parents** | **14%** | 90% | 2015 (Destatis) |
| **Education spending % GDP — government only** | **4.0% (2020), 3.6% (2017)** | 95% | 2020 (OECD EAG) |
| **Education spending % GDP — all sources** | **4.6% (2020)** | 95% | 2020 (OECD EAG) |
| **OECD average education spending — all sources** | **5.1% (2020)** | 95% | 2020 (OECD EAG) |

**One-liner:** 61% vs. 14% Gymnasium rate — Germany's parental education gap.

**Caveat:** Gymnasium stratification data from Destatis 2015 — needs manual refresh; education spending figures lag 4+ years (OECD EAG 2020).

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## Quick Context

Germany's educational success is strongly predicted by parental education: 61% of children from high-education families attend Gymnasium vs. 14% from low-education backgrounds (Destatis 2015). Germany's education spending (4.6% GDP, all sources, 2020) remains below the OECD average of 5.1%.

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## Detailed Findings

### Gymnasium Rate by Parental Education (Destatis 2015)

| Parental education level | Share attending Gymnasium (under-15s, 2015) |
|--------------------------|---------------------------------------------|
| High educational attainment | 61% |
| Low educational attainment | 14% |

*Source: Statistisches Bundesamt. Manual update required — search Destatis for current Gymnasialquoten by parental education.*

### Education Spending as % of GDP — Germany vs. OECD (OECD EAG, SDMX live)

| Year | Government only (S13) | All sources | OECD avg (all sources) |
|------|-----------------------|-------------|------------------------|
| 2017 | 3.6% | 4.2% | — |
| 2018 | 3.7% | 4.2% | — |
| 2019 | 3.7% | 4.3% | 4.9% |
| 2020 | 4.0% | 4.6% | 5.1% |

*Source: OECD SDMX API — `OECD.EDU.IMEP,DSD_EAG_UOE_FIN@DF_UOE_INDIC_FIN_GDP`. ISCED 1T8 (primary to tertiary), direct expenditure. Fetch: see DS-00017 source catalog.*

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## Source Analysis

| Source | Strengths | Weaknesses | Weight |
|--------|-----------|------------|--------|
| **Destatis Bildungsquoten** | Official; annual; direct measurement | 2015 data — needs manual refresh | High |
| **OECD EAG SDMX API** | Live; annual; official; cross-national comparable | ~18-month data lag | Very High |
| **PISA/IGLU** | Direct competency + background measurement | Triennial; PISA 15-year-olds only | High (for update) |

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## Research Metadata

| Attribute | Value |
|-----------|-------|
| **Research Date** | 2026-04-20 |
| **Researcher** | Sven / PAI |
| **Method** | Destatis (Gymnasium rates); OECD SDMX API live fetch (education spending) |
| **Confidence Level** | 90–95% for cited figures |
| **Known Gaps** | Destatis Gymnasium figures from 2015; intergenerational income elasticity not yet included; PISA socioeconomic effect size not yet fetched |
| **Update Frequency** | Destatis: annual; OECD EAG: annual (autumn) |

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## Connection to DE-Plan

- 61% vs. 14% Gymnasium rate → **CHALLENGE 5**: educational stratification structurally produces epistemic competence gap
- Low upward mobility → **CHALLENGE 4**: precarity entrenches exhaustion across generations; democratic participation requires material stability
- Bildungsmobilität gap → **CHALLENGE 1**: epistemically divided population is partially a product of structurally unequal knowledge access

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## Changelog

| Date | Change | Reason |
|------|--------|--------|
| 2026-04-20 | Initial dataset created | Structural cause of CHALLENGE 5 knowledge isolation |
| 2026-04-20 | Education spending updated via OECD SDMX API; IWH removed | Direct authoritative source preferred over 2017 commentary |