In one of the worlds richest countries, the number of children exposed to poverty in Germany has risen sharply over the past years. According to collected data, the number of children exposed to poverty in 2006 was about 1.5 million under the age of 16, and the number increased ten years later to 8.1 million and to 7.1 million in 2015. According to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), Germany recorded the highest number of children exposed to poverty during this period in 2010 at two million. Individuals exposed to poverty are those whose income is 60 percent lower than the average in the country, said Eurostat. The rate of children exposed to poverty rose from 12 percent in 2006 to 17.2 in 2010. The figure was at 14.9 percent in 2017. The average rate of children exposed to poverty in the European Union was 20.5 percent. "It is shameful that many children have financial problems," an official told the German news agency (dpa) in Berlin, adding: "They live in deprivation instead of growing up in decent conditions." The official called on the future German government to set up a project to combat child poverty. "Social aid must be reduced to poverty and social participation," he said, stressing the need to tighten the fight against low wages. The left-wing party in the Bundestag (Christian Bundestag) of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Social Democrats have called for a greater action against child poverty if they can form a governing coalition.