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After retiring from his job as a sales representative, Werner had to keep working on the side to boost his pension. “My flat is more than €1,000, and if you get a pension of €1,500 it’s a bit tight,” he says. “So I always tried to make a little money on the side. But now I make quite a lot, thanks to social media.”

Germany has one of the oldest populations in Europe, with a median age of 44.9 last year. The number of 85-year-olds in Germany has increased from 2.3 million in 2018 to 3.3 million this year. The country struggles to pay for its ageing population as the number of pensioners is overwhelming the active labour force paying into the state retirement fund. The lack of contributions has to be balanced by billions of euros from the federal budget.

But Werner does not only keep up with social media for the money — he thinks it can help retirees like himself to feel connected with others, especially since his wife of 66 years died this year.

“What is really important when you get older is to keep in touch with others,” he said. “I had a big circle of friends, but it has shrunk a lot because most of them are now pushing up daisies, unfortunately. And if you don’t try to stay up to date and make new friends, you can get really lonely when you get old. I don’t want that.”

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