Help from others
This indicator measures the proportion of people who say that they can rely on help from other people in times of need.
The indicator provides an approximation of measuring levels of personal contact and cohesion in society. The specific question was: "Is it possible for you to turn to a relative, friend or neighbour for help?"
The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) has surveyed a representative sample of people in 14,000 households across Germany on a voluntary basis since 2005. Data for the “help from others“ indicator has been collected for the years 2006, 2013 and 2015. Since 2015 the respondents have only two possible response categories (“yes”, “no”). The category “don't know“ has been dropped from the questionnaire. Results from previous survey are therefore not comparable to the most recent data. The response categories are very general and do not differentiate between material and non-material help, so they provide only limited information. With the planned expansion of the sample for Germany more information should be collected and analysed.