In 2025, 17.7 million patients received full inpatient care in Germany, representing a 1.2 percent increase, or 203,000 more patients, than the previous year. However, according to data released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Wednesday, the number of treatment cases remains significantly lower than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. To provide context, medical care was administered to over 19 million people annually in hospitals between 2014 and 2019. Compared to 2019 (when the figure was 19.4 million), the 2025 patient count saw a drop of 9.4 percent.
The largest share of inpatient hospital treatments in 2025 took place in the Internal Medicine department, accounting for 5.0 million cases, which made up 28.1 percent of all treatments. General Surgery followed, registering 2.7 million treatments, or 15.3 percent of the total cases.
Regarding infrastructure, the average number of beds across all 1,807 hospitals nationwide in 2025 was 468,803, a decrease of 0.9 percent from the previous year. Despite this slight reduction, the average bed occupancy rate rose by 0.6 percentage points, moving from 72.0 percent in 2024 to 72.6 percent in 2025. Larger hospitals tended to have higher utilization rates; those with more than 800 beds averaged 75.3 percent occupancy. Conversely, hospitals with fewer than 100 beds reported the lowest rates, with establishments having 1 to 49 beds seeing 55.2 percent occupancy, and those with 50 to 99 beds reporting 68.2 percent.
When examining the ownership structure, hospitals run by public entities accounted for the largest share of beds in 2025, totaling 47.4 percent across their 529 facilities. Hospitals operating under non-profit frameworks comprised 31.6 percent of the beds (549 facilities). While privately owned facilities were the most numerous with 729 institutions, they represented only 21.0 percent of the total beds, indicating that, based on bed count, they tend to be significantly smaller than those run by public or non-profit organizations.
In terms of patient stay, the average inpatient hospital stay in 2025 was 7.0 days, continuing the long-term trend toward shorter stays, as this was slightly shorter than the previous year. This figure contrasts sharply with data from 1991, when the average stay was 14.0 days-double the length observed in 2025. The length of stay also varied significantly by department. Internal Medicine and General Surgery reported short average stays of 5.0 days and 4.8 days, respectively. In contrast, psychiatric departments and geriatrics saw the highest durations; stays in psychiatric departments ranged from 24.3 to 47.0 days, while geriatrics averaged 14.8 days.
Finally, data on employment shows that at the end of 2025, hospitals directly employed 221,800 staff in medical roles and 1,271,700 staff in non-medical roles (including students and trainees). Compared to the previous year, the number of employees in medical roles increased by 1.9 percent, and in non-medical roles, it rose by 2.5 percent. When compared to 2015, the number of employees demonstrated a substantial increase: 27.1 percent in medical roles and 24.9 percent in non-medical roles. In terms of full-time equivalents (averaging 2025), 1,038,000 people were employed in hospitals, split between 184,100 in medical roles and 854,000 in non-medical roles. This represents a 2.0 percent increase in full-time equivalents in medical roles and 2.3 percent in non-medical roles compared to the previous year. Statistical analysts note that compared to 2015, there was a 19.2 percent increase in full-time medical staff and a 19.7 percent increase in full-time non-medical staff.
