Around 64 300 trainees signed a new nursing apprenticeship contract in 2025. According to preliminary figures released by the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Wednesday, that represents roughly an 8 % increase-or about 4 900 more contracts-than the 59 400 new contracts recorded in 2024. The count only includes trainees who were still in training as of 31 December 2025. The overall number of nursing trainees also rose to about 158 000, the highest figure since the introduction of the generalist nursing education scheme under the Nursing Professions Act.
Women remain the majority of new apprentices. Approximately 71 % of the newly signed contracts (about 45 800) were signed by women, compared with 29 % (around 18 500) by men. Although men are still in the minority, their numbers increased more rapidly than those of women: the male cohort grew by 15 % from 16 200 in the previous year to 18 500 in 2025, versus a 6 % rise for female trainees. In a longer‑term view, the share of men beginning nursing training has climbed by five percentage points since the launch of the new training format in 2020, reaching 24 % of entrants now compared with 76 % female entrants at that time.
In 2025, about 800 students enrolled in the newly introduced nursing degree programme, launched in 2024. This programme awards an academic bachelor’s degree in addition to the professional qualification of nursing specialist. Among students with new contracts, women again outnumber men (77 % versus 22 %). The total number of nursing students on 31 December 2025 was roughly 1 800.
