Federal Statistical Office: Medical costs in Germany continue to rise

Medical costs in Germany will exceed half a trillion euros in 2024. Overall, direct costs amounted to 528.5 billion euros, which corresponds to an increase of 7.6 percent compared to the previous year, as the Federal Statistical Office announced. Mathematically, each resident incurred costs of 6,330 euros.

The figures include expenses for medical treatment, care, prevention and rehabilitation, but do not include indirect consequences such as loss of work.

Big differences between genders

There are particularly large differences between the genders. The per capita costs for women were 6,960 euros, 22.5 percent higher than for men at 5,680 euros. The statisticians attribute this primarily to the longer life expectancy of women and the associated larger proportion of older and very old people. There are also costs associated with pregnancy and birth.

The costs increase with age

A decisive cost driver is age. More than half of the total medical costs (53.8 percent or 284.3 billion euros) were attributed to the over 65 age group alone. While the costs for 15 to 29 year olds averaged 2,390 euros, for people over 85 years old they rose to 30,150 euros per person.

Overall, cardiovascular diseases caused the highest costs at 69.4 billion euros, closely followed by mental and behavioral disorders at 68.7 billion euros.