The number of German hospitals that house maternity wards has fallen by more than half since the country’s reunification. In 1991 there were 1,186 hospitals where babies were born, but by 2024 that figure had dropped to 578 – a decline of 51.3 %. The Statistical Office (Destatis) released the data on Tuesday.
Births themselves were 18.4 % lower in 2024 than in 1991. The contraction of maternity services also led to the closing of specialised obstetric and gynecological departments. Those departments fell from 1,275 in 1991 to 758 in 2024, a 40.5 % reduction. The count includes gynecology units that no longer handle deliveries.
Hospital beds in obstetrics and gynecology shrank from roughly 66,400 in 1991 to 24,100 in 2024 – a 63.7 % decrease. As capacity fell, utilisation also declined sharply, from 77.4 % occupancy in 1991 to 56.4 % in 2024. One reason is that patients leave the hospital faster now than before.
The trend of fewer maternity clinics and specialised departments is seen nationwide, though the extent of the decline varies by state. Proximity to the nearest hospital that offers obstetrics or gynecology depends heavily on urbanisation. In large cities, 95.1 % of women aged 16‑49 can reach such a hospital within 15 minutes by car. In medium‑sized towns, the figure is about 73.4 %. In larger small towns, fewer than half (44.7 %) can arrive within that time, and in very small towns or rural areas only about 29.9 % of the same age group are within 15 minutes of a hospital with these services.
