Germany has more shareholders than ever before. On average, 12.89 million people in Germany had shares, equity funds and/or exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) in their portfolios in the past year, as calculated by the Deutsches Aktieninstitut (DAI).

According to the Frankfurt institution on Tuesday, the previous high of 2001 (12.85 million) was slightly exceeded. However, foreign shareholders resident in Germany have also been included in the DAI statistics since 2020. That alone caused an increase of 500,000 at the time. From 2021 to 2022, the number of share savers in Germany increased by almost 830,000.

"2022 was a very good year for stock culture in Germany," summarized the head of the stock institute, Christine Bortenlänger, in a statement. Based on the local population aged 14 and over, around one in five (18.3 percent) was involved in the stock market. According to the information, the strongest increase within a year was in the age group of under 30-year-olds.

Shareholder quota in other countries sometimes significantly higher

"Despite all the joy about the many new investors in stocks, stock funds or ETFs, one must not forget that too few people in Germany are still participating in the attractive returns of stock savings," said Bortenlänger. In other industrialized countries, the proportion of shareholders is in some cases significantly higher. In Germany, it was 20 percent in 2001, slightly higher than the most recent annual figure.

The Federal Government must implement its plans for a stock pension quickly, the stock institute demanded. The traffic light coalition wants to build up a capital stock from public funds, from the income of which pension contributions and pension levels are to be stabilized in about 15 years.