Consumer protection for young people in Germany: What the 2026 Consumer Report reveals
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Editorial TeamPublished on
Consumer protection for young people is failing in Germany – 87% say politicians perform poorly. Explore other key findings from the 2026 Consumer Report.
Germans are increasingly worried about how well their country protects children and teenagers as consumers – and a sweeping new survey makes clear that most citizens think politicians are falling dangerously short. The Consumer Report 2026, published on June 18, 2026 by the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband, vzbv), lays out the data in stark terms: consumer protection for young people in Germany is widely seen as inadequate, and public trust in politicians to fix it is near rock bottom.
What is the Consumer Report 2026?
The Consumer Report 2026 is an annual representative survey commissioned by the vzbv and carried out by the polling institute forsa. For this edition, 1,502 German-speaking residents aged 14 and over living in private households across Germany were interviewed by telephone (CATI dual-frame method) between April 13 and 24, 2026. The results are weighted by region, age, gender, and education, with a statistical margin of error of ±3 percentage points.
Overall consumer protection: A slight dip in confidence
Before zooming in on young people, it is worth noting the broader picture. In 2026, 71% of respondents said their consumer interests were “very well” or “rather well” protected in Germany – a modest but meaningful decline from 77% in 2024 and 76% in 2025. The share rating protection as “rather poor” or “very poor” climbed to 27%, up from 22% the year before.
Across life domains, the biggest gap in perceived protection falls in the area of internet and digitalization: only 40% of respondents feel their interests are well protected there, far below food and nutrition (70%), travel and transport (67%), or telecommunications (66%).
Consumer protection for young people: A system failing children and teenagers
The central finding of this year’s report is a resounding verdict on consumer protection for young people. Across every area tested, the majority of German consumers believe politicians are doing a poor or very poor job of protecting minors.
Digital services represent the most acute concern. A striking 87% of respondents rated political protection of children and young people in the area of social media and online games as “very poor” or “rather poor.” Given that internet and digitalization already rank last for general consumer protection, this double weakness is especially alarming.
Financial protection is the second most criticized area. Around 82% of respondents said they consider political efforts to protect young people from over-indebtedness and financial fraud as very or rather poor. This matters because young consumers entering adulthood face increasingly complex financial products, buy-now-pay-later schemes, and targeted advertising.
Nutrition rounds out the top three areas of concern. Nearly three-quarters of respondents (74%) see room for improvement in how politicians protect young people in the context of food marketing, unhealthy products, and eating habits.
When survey participants were asked to rate political performance across the four domains directly – nutrition, prevention (through school curricula), finance, and digital services – the picture was unambiguous. In every single category, far more people gave politicians poor marks than good ones. Only 25% rated performance in nutrition as good; for digital services, just 11% did.
79% Want Stricter Rules – Even If It Means More Regulation
One of the clearest signals in the report is that consumer protection for young people is not just a niche concern: it commands broad public support, including support for stronger regulation. When asked whether politicians should do more to protect children and young people – even if it means stricter rules for companies and platforms – 79% of respondents said yes. Only 19% preferred to place greater emphasis on personal responsibility and fewer rules.
This is a significant finding at a time when debates about regulating platforms like Instagram or TikTok often frame tighter rules as unpopular overreach. The data suggests the opposite: the German public wants action.
Public Trust in Politicians Remains Critically Low
Despite near-universal agreement that consumer protection matters, trust in politicians to deliver it is very low. Only 20% of respondents said they trust politicians to some extent or a great deal when it comes to consumer protection – down slightly from 24% in 2024 and 22% in 2025.
By contrast, 86% of respondents agreed that politicians bear responsibility for protecting consumer interests, creating a stark trust gap: responsibility is widely acknowledged, but confidence that politicians will act on it has eroded steadily over three years.
When asked who they trust most on consumer protection issues, respondents ranked family and friends highest (87%), followed by consumer organizations (67%) and lawyers (61%). Politicians came last, trusted by just 20% – even below product and service providers (27%) and online advice portals (32%).
Consumer Protection Is Especially Important to Young People
There is a notable irony embedded in the data: the age group most at risk, young people themselves, are also the most likely to care about consumer protection. Among 14- to 29-year-olds, 96% said consumer protection is very or somewhat important for their personal safety as consumers, compared to 90% across all age groups and 86% among those aged 60 and over.
This suggests that young consumers are acutely aware of the risks they face – from addictive digital platforms to financial traps – and are actively looking for the protections that, according to the same survey, politicians are failing to provide.
Life Was Simpler 20 Years Ago – and Most People Know It
The report also asked respondents to reflect on whether everyday life for children and young people was simpler 20 years ago. A large majority, 84%, said yes, it was simpler back then. Only 12% believed it was more complicated. This perception of a more complex and riskier consumer environment for today’s youth reinforces the urgency behind calls for stronger consumer protection for young people.
Quote / Ramona Pop, Executive Director of the Federation of German Consumer OrganizationsUnhealthy food, addictive online media, looming debt traps: the everyday lives of young consumers are very complex. At the same time, children and teenagers have a right to grow up healthy and safe. In our view, politicians often fail to live up to this responsibility.
The vzbv is calling on policymakers to take concrete action in three areas: ensuring digital services are safe for young users, minimizing the risks of over-indebtedness and fraud for minors, and creating regulatory frameworks that support healthy eating choices.
Key takeaways
The Consumer Report 2026 delivers a clear message: consumer protection for young people in Germany is perceived as inadequate by an overwhelming majority of the population, across all three priority areas of digital services, finance, and nutrition. Public demand for stronger political action is high, and tolerance for the status quo is low. With trust in politicians continuing to slide, the pressure is on for meaningful legislative and regulatory change – before the gap between what consumers expect and what politicians deliver grows any wider.
Methodology
Representative telephone survey (CATI dual-frame) of 1,502 German-speaking residents aged 14+ in private households in Germany, conducted April 13–24, 2026 by forsa on behalf of the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv). Statistical margin of error: ±3 percentage points.
