Rhineland-Palatinate: Municipalities reduce debt by 19.2 percent!

Rhineland-Palatinate: Municipalities reduce debt by 19.2 percent!

The municipalities in Rhineland-Palatinate have made significant progress in reducing their debt. According to recent reports from n-tv The cities and municipalities have reduced their debt by 19.2 percent to around 9.7 billion euros. This means that the average debt per resident is now around 2,400 euros. As is well known, this development is the result of various measures, including the “Partnership to Relieve Municipalities”, in which the state of Rhineland-Palatinate took over the liquidity loans from particularly burdened municipalities.

In 2024, the total debt of Rhineland-Palatinate and its municipalities amounted to 38.8 billion euros, an increase of 260 million euros or 0.7 percent compared to the previous year. It should be noted that non-public debt refers to liabilities to credit institutions or private companies.

Comparison with other federal states

While Rhineland-Palatinate is making progress, debt remains relatively high compared to other regional states. The State Statistical Office reports that the average debt in Rhineland-Palatinate at the end of 2023 is 4,133 euros per inhabitant, which is 13 percent above the average of all regional states and 9 percent above that of the western German regional states. At the same time, the debt in some neighboring federal states is significantly higher, for example in Saarland with 6,178 euros or in Hesse with 5,789 euros.

Another important aspect is the difference between independent cities and the district areas. The average debt in independent cities is 7,853 euros per inhabitant, which is 24 percent above the average for all regional states. At 11,951 euros, Pirmasens has the second highest debt among the independent cities in Germany. Other cities such as Ludwigshafen and Kaiserslautern follow in fourth and fifth place.

Debt at the district level

The average debt in the district area is 3,504 euros, which is still 6 percent above the average for all regional states. It is striking that the Kusel district has the highest debt in Rhineland-Palatinate at 8,749 euros per resident, while the Rhine-Palatinate district has the lowest debt at 1,340 euros.

Detailed results and methodological explanations of these data are available in the table volume “Integrated debts of municipalities and municipal associations” for 2023. An interactive mapping application with new results will be available in spring 2025 to further illustrate the debt landscape. This measure is intended to increase transparency and help municipalities further reduce debt.