After the corona boom, the number of shareholders in Germany is crumbling again.

The Deutsches Aktieninstitut (DAI) counted 12.3 million investors in shares, equity funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last year, 570,000 fewer than at the peak in 2022. This is the fourth time in a row that the number of equity investors has exceeded the twelve million mark, said DAI Managing Director Christine Bortenlänger on Thursday. The long-term upward trend has not changed. This means that a good one in six people in Germany are invested in shares. "In view of the turnaround in interest rates, persistently high inflation and a gloomy economic outlook, the number of people saving in shares is a good result," said Bortenlänger. The DAI represents the interests of listed companies.

According to DAI figures, most investors in Germany hold their shares in funds or ETFs: 10.3 million. ETFs are particularly popular with younger people: 35% of 14- to 39-year-olds hold their shares in these exchange-traded funds, compared with only half as many older people. 4.7 million people in Germany have invested directly in shares. While the number of male shareholders fell by just over half a million, the number of female shareholders remained almost constant. Nevertheless, women are still underrepresented among equity investors at 38%.

(Report by Alexander Hübner, edited by Christian Götz. If you have any queries, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)