• Figures to be exclusively published on the occasion of the “Day of the Garden” on 14 June
• 93 per cent of households with a garden do not use pesticides or synthetic fertiliser
• 82 per cent place nesting aids or feeding stations in their garden
• 60 per cent of households in Germany have a garden

People in Germany are making greater efforts to conserve biodiversity in their gardens. Ninety-three per cent of households with a garden report that they do not use pesticides or synthetic fertiliser. Seventy-nine per cent of households deliberately choose plants that provide food for native birds. In addition, 81 per cent of households avoid alien plant species that could become invasive. Eighty-two per cent place nesting aids or feeding stations in their garden. Almost half of all households with a garden (47 per cent) adopt all four of these natural gardening approaches.

These are the findings of a representative survey of households which KfW Research published as part of the KfW Energy Transition Barometer on the occasion of the “Day of the Garden” on 14 June.

“It is encouraging that so many citizens want to have a species-rich garden. This can be an important puzzle piece to conserving biological diversity in Germany,”

said Dr Dirk Schumacher, Chief Economist of KfW.

“Biodiversity is a hard economic factor. Only an intact natural environment can provide drinking water, food, medicine and fertile soils on a sustained basis and protect against heat and flooding. Around two thirds of value added in the EU is dependent on these ecosystem services, and losing them would create serious growth and inflation risks.”

According to the KfW survey, 60 per cent of the 41 million households in Germany have a garden, including micro-gardens and allotment gardens. Gardens are much more common in the countryside than in the cities. In municipalities with up to 5,000 inhabitants, 77 per cent of households have a garden. And yet, in large cities with more than 500,000 inhabitants that share is still 41 per cent. KfW estimates that Germany has around 17.2 million gardens with a total area of around 7,000 km2. That is just under two per cent of Germany’s land area, or nearly the size of Hamburg.

In the year 2015, the EU Commission had conducted a survey of the number of households in Germany with a garden and/or balcony/terrace that were committed to conserving biodiversity there. In addition to those with a garden, KfW Research also surveyed residents with a balcony/terrace in 2026 to create a basis for comparison. Whereas eleven years ago 78 per cent of households with a garden and/or a balcony/terrace did not use any pesticides or synthetic fertiliser, that figure has now grown to 89 per cent. Previously 51 per cent deliberately chose food plants for wildlife, today it is 66 per cent. In 2015, 41 per cent deliberately did not install invasive plant species, and in 2026 that share already stood at 74 per cent. This shows a clearly positive trend in all areas.

You can find the short study here: Economics in Brief | KfW

The representative survey on the topic of gardens was carried out as part of the KfW Energy Transition Barometer. It took place from 10 December 2025 to 1 April 2026 and comprised 1,860 of the 4,370 households surveyed for the KfW Energy Transition Barometer. The KfW Energy Transition Barometer is a study conducted annually since 2018 on the basis of a survey of a random sample of representative households in Germany. The primary aim of the survey was to find out to what extent energy transition technologies were being used in the different households. Further information on the structure and survey methodology of the KfW Energy Transition Barometer can be found at: www.kfw.de/energiewendebarometer.

KfW is committed to conserving biodiversity worldwide. Further information on the subject can be found here: How KfW works to nurture biodiversity all over the world | KfW and bioSFer – Committed to Nature: Strategic approach to biodiversity | KfW