Wave of colds drives absenteeism to record levels in Germany!

Wave of colds drives absenteeism to record levels in Germany!

A wave of colds kept sickness rates in Germany at a high level in the first quarter of 2025. How t online reports, DAK-Gesundheit recorded an increase of around 25% in days missed due to respiratory problems compared to the first quarter of 2024. This has led to the sickness rate among DAK insured persons increasing to 6.0% in the first three months of 2025, which is 0.1 percentage points above the previous year's value of 5.5%.

On average, 60 out of 1,000 employees were on sick leave every day between January and March. Almost 40% of employees had at least one sick note, an increase compared to 38% last year. In particular, respiratory illnesses, which include colds and bronchitis, led to a total of around 158 days of absence per 100 DAK-insured employees, an increase of 31 days or 24% compared to the first quarter of 2024. DAK CEO Andreas Storm is calling for a debate about the causes of the high level of absenteeism.

Causes of the increase in absenteeism

Respiratory problems accounted for most days of absence in the first quarter of 2025, followed by mental illness and musculoskeletal problems. In contrast, DAK-Gesundheit reported a slight decrease in sickness absence for 2024. The survey, the DAK presented shows that sick leave in Germany was reduced from 5.5% to 5.4%. According to this, an average of 54 out of 1,000 employees were on sick leave every day.

In 2024, DAK-insured employees had an average of 19.7 days of absence, which represents a decrease of 2.3% compared to 2023. The average duration of an illness was 9.7 days, a decrease of 0.4 days compared to the previous year. Encouragingly, in 2024 there was an 8% decrease in respiratory diseases and a 6% decrease in musculoskeletal diseases. However, days of absence due to mental illnesses increased by 5.7% to 342 days of absence per 100 insured people.

Industry overview

The analysis shows significant differences in sick leave depending on the industry. Particularly noteworthy are the data processing industry with a sickness rate of 3.5% and the insurance sector with 4.0%. In the healthcare sector, however, sick leave was a significantly higher 6.3%, while in the transport, warehousing and courier services sector it was 6.0%. Storm emphasizes the need for prevention and company health management in order to further reduce sickness absence and promote the health of employees.