Age, Biography, and Wiki
Olaf Scholz was born on June 14, 1958, in Osnabrück, Germany. He was raised in Hamburg and pursued a career in law before entering politics. Scholz is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and has held several key positions, including First Mayor of Hamburg and Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.
| Occupation | Politician |
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| Date of Birth | 14 June 1958 |
| Age | 67 Years |
| Birth Place | Osnabrück, West Germany |
| Horoscope | Gemini |
| Country | Germany |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is limited publicly available information regarding Olaf Scholz's height, weight, or body measurements.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Olaf Scholz is married to Britta Ernst, a politician and former Senator for Education in Hamburg. The couple does not have any children together.
His parents worked in the textile industry. He has two younger brothers, Jens Scholz, an anesthesiologist and CEO of the University Medical Center Schleswig Holstein; and Ingo Scholz, a tech entrepreneur.
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| Husband | Britta Ernst (m. 1998) |
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Net Worth and Salary
As of 2025, Olaf Scholz's net worth is estimated to be around $500,000. His annual salary as Chancellor of Germany was approximately €348,300 (about $377,800), although other sources report it as €362,268. This makes him one of the highest-paid heads of government in the European Union.
In a paper compiled in late 2014, Scholz and Schäuble proposed redirecting revenue from the solidarity surcharge on income and corporate tax (Solidaritätszuschlag) to subsidize the federal states' interest payments. Under Scholz's leadership, the Social Democrats won the 2015 state election in Hamburg, receiving around 47% of the vote. He formed a coalition government with the Green Party, with Green leader Katharina Fegebank being appointed to serve as Deputy First Mayor. In 2015, Scholz led Hamburg's bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics with an estimated budget of €11.2B (US$12.6B), competing against Los Angeles, Paris, Rome, and Budapest. In a referendum, the citizens of Hamburg later rejected the city's candidacy, with more than half voting against the project. Later that year, Scholz – alongside Minister-President Torsten Albig of Schleswig-Holstein – negotiated a debt-restructuring deal with the European Commission. The deal allowed German regional lender HSH Nordbank to offload €6.2B in problematic assets, primarily underperforming ship loans, onto its government majority owners and avoid being shut down, saving around 2,500 jobs. In 2017, Scholz was criticised for his handling of riots that took place during the G20 summit in Hamburg.
In December 2021, Scholz rejected the Polish government's claim for further World War II reparations. As a consequence of Nazi German and Soviet Union aggression in World War II, Poland lost about a fifth of its population and much of its industry and infrastructure was destroyed. As a compensation Poland was awarded large parts of eastern Germany at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, with Germany finally renouncing its claims to these territories – including East Prussia, most of Silesia, as well as the eastern parts of Brandenburg and Pomerania – in the Two Plus Four Agreement in 1990. According to the German government, there is no legal basis for further compensation payments. In a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Scholz said "We have concluded treaties that are valid and have settled the past issues and the compensation". Scholz also pointed out that Germany "continues to be willing to pay very, very high contributions to the EU budget", from which Poland has benefited considerably since its accession to the EU.
Scholz has been campaigning for a financial transaction tax for several years. Experts have criticized parts of this plan, arguing that it would disproportionately affect small shareholders. In December 2019, Scholz pushed for the introduction of this tax at European Union level. According to a draft legislation, share purchases should be taxed when they involve shares in companies with a market capitalization over €1B. Journalist Hermann-Josef Tenhagen criticized this version of the transaction tax on the basis that it would disproportionately affect lower-income individuals. A report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy commissioned by the Federal Government in 2020 certified the same deficiencies in the tax concept that Tenhagen had already pointed out.
Career, Business, and Investments
Scholz's political career began with his membership in the SPD. He has served in various roles, including:
- First Mayor of Hamburg: From 2011 to 2018.
- Federal Minister of Finance: From 2018 to 2021.
- Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs: From 2007 to 2009.
- Chancellor of Germany: Held this position from 2021 until his departure from office in 2025.
Scholz began his career as a lawyer specialising in labour and employment law. He became a member of the SPD in the 1970s and was a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2011. Scholz served in the Hamburg Government under First Mayor Ortwin Runde in 2001 and became general secretary of the SPD in 2002, where he served alongside SPD leader and then-chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He became his party's chief whip in the Bundestag, later entering the First Merkel Government in 2007 as Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs. After the SPD moved into the opposition following the 2009 federal election, Scholz returned to lead the SPD in Hamburg. He was then elected deputy leader of the SPD. He led his party to victory in the 2011 Hamburg state election and became first mayor, a position he held until 2018.
Scholz attended the Bekassinenau elementary school in Oldenfelde, and then switched to the Großlohering elementary school in Großlohe. After graduating from high school in 1977, he began studying law at the University of Hamburg in 1978 as part of a one-stage legal training course. He later found employment as a lawyer specialising in labour and employment law, working at the law firm Zimmermann, Scholz und Partner. Scholz joined the Social Democratic Party at the age of 17.
Olaf Scholz joined the SPD in 1975 as a student, where he came into contact with the Jusos, the youth organization of the SPD. From 1982 to 1988, he was Deputy Federal Chairman of the Jusos. Scholz was also Vice President of the International Union of Socialist Youth from 1987 to 1989. He supported the Freudenberger Kreis, a Marxist wing of the Jusos' university groups, arguing that society should "overcome the capitalist economy" in one of his publications. In it, Scholz criticized the "aggressive-imperialist NATO", the Federal Republic as the "European stronghold of big business" and the social-liberal coalition, which puts the "bare maintenance of power above any form of substantive dispute". Referring to this period in his life, Scholz later said that he "made almost all possible mistakes at some point".
In his capacity as First Mayor, Scholz represented Hamburg and Germany internationally. On 7 June 2011, Scholz attended the state dinner hosted by President Barack Obama in honor of Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. As host of Hamburg's annual St. Matthias' Day banquet for the city's civic and business leaders, he brought several notable guests of honour to the city, including Jean-Marc Ayrault, Prime Minister of France, in 2013; David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, in 2016; and Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, in 2017. From 2015 until 2018, Scholz also served as Commissioner of the Federal Republic of Germany for Cultural Affairs under the Treaty on Franco-German Cooperation.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, Scholz drafted a series of financial rescue packages for the country's economy, including a €130B stimulus package in June 2020. The stimulus package included support for businesses and freelancers as well as a decision to keep factories open. This is often credited as having prevented mass layoffs, and the effects of the COVID-19 financial crisis on the German economy were initially relatively low. Scholz also oversaw the allocation of funding received from Next Generation EU, the European Union's €750B COVID-19 recovery fund. 90% of the €28B available to Germany was invested into climate protection and digitization.
Scholz was criticized in the context of the Wirecard scandal; serious misconduct by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), which is under the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Finance, is alleged to have contributed to the longevity of the fraudulent business. During Scholz's time in office, the Ministry of Finance was one of the subjects of parliamentary inquiry into the scandal, but Scholz has denied any personal responsibility. Having vowed to strengthen financial market supervision, he replaced BaFin president Felix Hufeld.
In August 2022, Scholz expressed disagreement with the words of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to "apartheid" in South Africa. Energy-intensive German industry and German exporters were hit particularly hard by the 2021–present global energy crisis. Scholz said: "of course we knew, and we know, that our solidarity with Ukraine will have consequences." On 29 September 2022, Germany presented a €200B plan to support industry and households.
In May 2023, Scholz called on all parties involved to resolve the Cyprus dispute, which escalated after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 and the subsequent unrecognized occupation of the northern part of the island. He indicated that his preferred solution would be a bizonal federation. Scholz condemned Hamas' actions during the Gaza war, expressed his support to Israel, and began supporting the nation with military and medical aid. He criticized the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, saying that "their silence is shameful." On 17 October 2023, Scholz arrived in Israel and on the same day warned Iran and Hezbollah not to get involved in the war between Israel and Hamas. He said that "Germany and Israel are united by the fact that they are democratic constitutional states. Our actions are based on law and order, even in extreme situations." On 12 November 2023, Scholz rejected calls for "an immediate ceasefire or long pause" in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, saying it would "mean ultimately that Israel leaves Hamas the possibility of recovering and obtaining new missiles".
From May 2022, the aid to Ukraine became increasingly significant. The rhetoric of the chancellor also began to change. On 9 May 2022, Scholz said that Russians and Ukrainians once fought together during World War II against Nazi Germany's "murderous National Socialist regime", but now "Putin wants to overthrow Ukraine and destroy its culture and identity... [and] even regards his barbaric war of aggression as being on a par with the fight against National Socialism. That is a falsification of history and a disgraceful distortion." On 16 June 2022, Scholz visited the Ukrainian Capital, Kyiv, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. They talked about various issues such as the war in Ukraine and Ukraine's membership into the EU. This comes as a reverse of his previous stance to not visit Ukraine, after Zelensky rebuked the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier over his contribution to stronger Moscow-Berlin ties. By 1 September 2022, the actual volume of German arms deliveries to Ukraine was only exceeded by that of deliveries by the United States and the United Kingdom. The verdict was that, "based on these statistics, Berlin had ultimately positioned itself as a reliable partner of Ukraine." However, it "could also be argued that Berlin's communication to affirm its Ukraine stance and explain its foreign policy goals had been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster".
On 6 November 2024, Scholz removed Finance Minister Christian Lindner from his position, citing loss of trust. Lindner's removal led to the collapse of the governing coalition. The government crisis was complicated by the fact that the German economy entered its second consecutive year of recession. Germany also faced a severe housing crisis in 2024, leading Scholz to describe housing as Germany's most pressing social issue.
In October 2024, Scholz warned of the deindustrialization of Germany. In December 2024, Scholz criticized Volkswagen's plan to close factories in Germany. He proposed a European subsidy programme for electric vehicles. He also pledged support for the German steel industry, which was facing high energy costs.
On 13 January 2022, Scholz told lawmakers in the Bundestag that Germany should make COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for all adults. Later that month, he warned that the coronavirus would not "miraculously" disappear, and said Germany would not be able to get out of the pandemic without compulsory vaccinations. The opposition Christian Democratic Union criticized the government for not taking a firm decision on a vaccine mandate. The far-right Alternative for Germany party wanted Scholz's government to ban vaccine mandates.
In January 2019, Scholz stated that he sees China primarily as an economic partner. He tried to persuade Chinese Vice Premier Liu He that China should be more open to German firms, and he supported the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between the EU and China. In September 2022, he condemned the treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in China's Xinjiang.
Social Network
Olaf Scholz is active in public life but does not have a significant personal social media presence. He communicates primarily through official government channels.
As chancellor, Scholz oversaw Germany's response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite giving a restrained and timid response compared to many other Western leaders, Scholz oversaw a significant increase in the German defence budget, weapons shipments to Ukraine, and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was put on hold. Three days after the invasion, Scholz set out the principles of a new German defence policy in his Zeitenwende speech. In September 2022, three of the four Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed. During the Gaza war, he authorized substantial German military and medical aid to Israel, and denounced the actions of Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups. In November 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court demanded budget cuts totaling €60billion to ensure the government would not surpass debt limits as set in the constitution; this proved a significant challenge for Scholz's cabinet and contributed to the 2023–2024 protests. On 6 November 2024, his government majority collapsed as he dismissed Christian Lindner from the post of Federal Minister of Finance and broke up the coalition agreement. On 16 December 2024, Scholz lost a vote of confidence and in the following snap election on 23 February 2025, his SPD lost to Friedrich Merz's CDU, placing third (behind Union and AfD) for the first time in post-war history.
Scholz was asked to participate in exploratory talks between the CDU, CSU and SPD parties to form a coalition government following the 2013 federal election. In the subsequent negotiations, he led the SPD delegation in the financial policy working group; his co-chair from the CDU/CSU was Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble. Alongside fellow Social Democrats Jörg Asmussen and Thomas Oppermann, Scholz was reported in the media to be a possible successor to Schäuble in the post of Finance Minister at the time; whilst Schäuble remained in post, the talks to form a coalition were ultimately successful.
In March 2024, Scholz confronted EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell over his months-long criticism of Israel, saying Borrell did not speak for Germany. On 28 May 2024, Scholz said that his government has no plans to officially recognise a Palestinian state. In May 2024, Scholz criticized planned EU tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles, saying, "I would like to point out that currently 50% of electric vehicle imports from China in fact come from Western brands that produce vehicles there." In June 2024, Scholz praised Volkswagen AG's move to develop cheaper electric cars for the European market.
With regard to supporting Ukraine and taking action against Russia, Scholz was trailing behind others. On 26 February 2022, he was the last of several EU leaders to continue opposition against kicking Russia out of the SWIFT international payment system. However, Germany did send some effective weapons to Ukraine. By 17 March about 2,000 portable missile weapons against tanks and aircraft had been sent. In his 23 March speech, Scholz claimed that Germany would "try everything we can until peace prevails again on our continent" including taking hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees across German borders. Like most other NATO leaders, he declined to impose a no-fly zone, as that would probably draw NATO into a direct military conflict with Russia.
On 16 December 2024, Scholz lost a vote of confidence in the Bundestag, paving the way for elections to be held on 23 February 2025. Exit polls showed that the SPD fell to third place and fell below 20% for the first time since 1933, while also achieving its worst result in terms of vote share since the 1887 federal election, held in the German Empire. After the first exit polls were published, Scholz announced he would not seek to be part of a government led by Friedrich Merz. As a result, Co-party leader Lars Klingbeil also became parliamentary group leader of the SPD, while Co-party leader Saskia Esken is currently still in this office. Scholz was elected to the 21st Bundestag by winning his constituency through the first vote in the 2025 German federal election. He has said that he intends to take up his mandate.
Education
Scholz studied law at the University of Hamburg and briefly practiced law before dedicating himself to politics.
