In the past decade the number of inpatient treatments for endometriosis in Germany rose by 50.1 %. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported that in 2014 there were just over 25,100 such admissions, compared with roughly 37,700 in 2024.
The sharp increase is not only likely linked to a higher incidence of the disease, but may also reflect growing awareness among patients and doctors. In 2024, a striking 91.1 % of women who were treated for endometriosis in hospitals were between 20 and 49 years old.
Other gynecological conditions that frequently lead to hospital stays include uterine fibroids and pelvic organ prolapse. In 2024 some 48,700 women were treated for fibroids, a figure that is 26.6 % lower than the 66,300 cases reported in 2014. Almost half (48.4 %) of these patients were aged 40 to 49. Hospital treatments for pelvic organ prolapse, on the other hand, fell by 4.6 % over the same period, from 48,300 in 2014 to 46,100 in 2024. Prolapse admissions predominated among older women: 72.6 % of those treated were older than 60.
In 2024 the most common reasons for a women’s inpatient stay were cardiovascular disorders such as heart failure or atrial fibrillation (12.8 % of all female admissions), injuries and poisonings-including femoral fractures (10.4 %)-and pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period (9.4 %). For men, cardiovascular diseases accounted for 16.9 % of all hospital stays, followed by digestive‑system illnesses (10.8 %) and injuries or poisonings (9.7 %).
The causes of death also show clear gender differences. Cardiovascular disease was responsible for 35.4 % of all female deaths in 2024, remaining the leading cause. A total of 178,742 women died of cardiovascular disease, a number that exceeds the 160,470 male deaths from the same causes, which represented 31.9 % of all male deaths. Cancer accounted for 21.1 % of female deaths (106,774 deaths), a figure slightly lower than the 123,618 male cancer deaths; cancer was the cause of 24.6 % of male deaths.
These gender‑related health disparities are also reflected in life expectancy. In 2024 the average life expectancy at birth in Germany was 83.5 years for women and 78.9 years for men-a difference of 4.6 years. The rise in longevity is attributed to increased prosperity and improved health care, as well as differences in health‑behaviour patterns such as smoking, exercise, diet, risk activity, and working conditions between men and women.
