Hospital Beds Per 1,000 Population (2017): 8
Nurse-To-Hospital-Bed Ratio (FTE) (2017): 0.58
Doctors Consultations (In All Settings) (Number Per Capita) (2017): 9.9
Hospital Average Length of Stay (All Causes) (2017): 8.9
Computed Tomography Scanners (Per Million Population) (2017): 35.13
Magnetic Imaging Resonance Units (Per Million Population) (2017): 34.71
Mammographs (Per Million Population) (2017): NA

Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD.Stat. Last accessed Oct. 15, 2019.

“In 2017, Germany had 8.0 hospital beds per 1,000 population, after numbers decreased by about 11 % since 2000. Bed density is the highest across the EU, and much higher than in neighbouring countries such as France (6.0 per 1,000). This signals that there is scope to move more care into the community (Section 5.3). Because of the exceptionally high number of beds, there are relatively few doctors and nurses per bed – despite the comparatively high number of health professionals.

“Hospital activity is very high in Germany (Figure 9), with the number of discharges per 100,000 population being far above the EU average (257 compared with 172). Activity is also high in the outpatient sector (Figure 9), which consists almost exclusively of doctor services provided outside hospitals.⁵ The high number of consultations can partially be explained by the absence of a gatekeeping system or requirement to enrol with a GP, which means that patients can see several GPs and consult specialists without a referral. The number of consultations is also high because nurses and other health professionals still play a minor role in primary care (Section 5.3).”

Source: OECD/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (2019), Germany: Country Health Profile 2019, State of Health in the EU, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, Brussels.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and several other nations.

Page last updated Oct. 20, 2020 by Doug McVay, Editor.