German Health System Overview
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Outcomes
Health System Coverage
Costs for Consumers
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Germany’s COVID-19 Strategy
Population, Midyear 2022: 83,369,843
Population Density (Number of Persons per Square Kilometer): 239.18
Projected Population, Midyear 2030: 82,762,676
Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2022: 22.41%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2030: 26.39%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2050: 30.48%
Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.
Annual Population Growth Rate 2000-2020: 0.1%
Projected Annual Population Growth Rate 2020-2030: -0.1%
Proportion of Urban Population, 2020: 77%
Annual Growth Rate of Urban Population 2000-2020: 0.3%
Projected Annual Growth Rate of Urban Population 2020-2030: 0.1%
Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2021: On My Mind – Promoting, protecting and caring for children’s mental health, UNICEF, New York, October 2021.
“As of December 2018, Germany had some 83 million inhabitants (42 million women and 41 million men). Population density in the eastern part of the country is lower than in the western part and also varies considerably between the 16 states, ranging from 69 inhabitants per km2 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania to 3948 inhabitants per km2 in Berlin. Berlin is the country’s capital and, with 3.7 million residents, its largest city.
“The number of inhabitants had started to decrease from 2005 and reached its lowest point in 2011* but since then has grown steadily, with a sharp increase since 2015 (Table 1.1). Since the fertility rate has remained relatively constant, population growth is mainly due to the positive migration balance in recent years (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2019a). Immigration peaked in 2015 with 2.1 million immigrants and a net migration of 1.1 million people. Net migration to Germany decreased again in the three following years (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2019).
“Similar to the rest of the European Union (EU), the German population is ageing and trends in the population age distribution are expected to become more pronounced in the future. The share of the population under 15 years of age, for example, was 13.1% both in 1995 and 2018, whereas the share of those aged 65 or older exceeds that of younger people and increased from 15.5% to 21.7% (Table 1.1). This is the second highest share among EU Member States after Italy. In addition, the share of the population aged 80 or older increased from 4% in 1995 to 6% in 2018 and is expected to increase to between 9% and 13% by 2060 (depending on the underlying assumptions of different forecasting models), which will have a considerable impact on health and long-term care services (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2019a); see Section 5.8 Long-term care.”
Source: Blümel M, Spranger A, Achstetter K, Maresso A, Busse R. Germany: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2020; 22(6): pp.i–273.
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 sixteen other nations.
Page last updated May 13, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.
