By the end of 2024, about 6.2 million people were employed in the German health sector.
That figure represents a 102,000‑person gain, or a 1.7 % rise compared with 2023, and marks the first time since the height of the pandemic in 2021 that health‑care staffing has grown by more than one percent (2021 +2.8 %, 2022 +0.5 %, 2023 +0.4 %).
Full‑time equivalents (FTEs) totaled just over 4.4 million, up 1.4 % from the previous year (2021 +1.9 %, 2022 +0.4 %, 2023 +0.5 %).
“Institutional care”
Employment in hospital and other institutional settings rose by 64,000 people, a 3.0 % increase, outperforming the 32,000 (+1.3 %) growth in the outpatient sector.
Specifically:
– Hospitals: +38,000 staff (2.9 %)
– Prevention or rehabilitation facilities: +5,000 staff (4.2 %)
– Institutional care facilities: +21,000 staff (2.8 %)
“Outpatient sector”
Changes varied across care settings:
– Home‑care services: +11,000 staff (2.6 %)
– Other medical practices (e.g., physiotherapy and occupational therapy): +14,000 staff (2.4 %)
– General practitioner and dentist practices: +4,000 staff each (0.5 % and 1.0 %)
Pharmacies (237,000 employees) and retail outlets selling optical, medical and orthopedic products (136,000 employees) did not see any change.
“Nursing personnel”
The number of nurses in hospitals, prevention/rehabilitation facilities, and in both outpatient and institutional care grew sharply.
There were 49,000 more nursing staff in 2024-a 3.4 % increase. The rise in nursing aides (5.2 %) outpaced that of registered nurses (2.6 %). In absolute terms, nursing aides rose to 485,000 (an increase of 24,000), while registered nurses reached roughly one million (an increase of 25,000). This pattern-faster growth of aides than of qualified nurses-continues the trend seen over the past decade.