Reduced earning capacity pension
Diabetes can seriously limit physical functioning and thus compromise the ability to work (Pollmann et al., 2013). People who receive a reduced earning capacity pension are unable to work at full capacity.
Key messages
- The number of reduced earning capacity pensions based on a diagnosis of diabetes decreased over time, while figures are lower for women than for men.
- There are clear differences at federal state level in the number of people receiving a pension due to reduced earning capacity, which differ by more than 2-fold between single federal states.
- In regions with high regional socioeconomic deprivation the rate of reduced earning capacity pensions is higher than in regions with low deprivation.
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trend
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By state
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By gender
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By age
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By regional socioeconomical deprivation
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Results
Between 2013 and 2022, there was a reduction in the number of reduced earning capacity pensions due to diabetes for both sexes per 100,000 people insured with the German Statutory Pension Insurance Scheme. While the rate was 12.7 per 100,000 actively insured in 2013, this rate decreased to 9.1 by 2022. In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, the rate had increased slightly to 10.5. Women consistently showed lower rates of pension due to a reduction in earning capacity, and most recently this was 6.1 for women compared to 11.9 per 100,000 actively insured men. Clear differences can be seen at federal state level in regard to reduced earning capacity pensions due to diabetes. In 2022, for example, women and men in Saarland (women: 10.4; men: 23.0) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (women: 10.9; men: 21.8) received comparatively more pension payments due to a reduction in earning capacity than in Hamburg (women: 5.0; men: 9.5), Baden-Wuerttemberg (women: 4.9; men: 9.1) and Bavaria (women: 4.3; men: 8.6). In regions with high socioeconomic deprivation significantly higher rates can be found than in regions with low deprivation, for both women and men.
Conclusion
There is a declining trend in the number of reduced earning capacity pensions granted to both women and men due to diabetes with the exception of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic 2020. The number of persons with diabetes receiving a pension owing to a reduced earning capacity varies by region and corresponds to diabetes prevalence. Regions with high socioeconomic deprivation are also associated with higher diabetes prevalence (Kroll et al., 2017), which contributes to the higher rates of pensions due to a reduced earning capacity in these regions.
Show more information on methodology and data sources
Definition
The indicator Reduced earning capacity pension is defined as the number of pensions granted due to a primary or secondary diagnosis of diabetes (E10.- to E14.-) per 100,000 people who are actively insured (people in work who pay insurance) per year.
Reference population
The population that is actively insured by German Pension Insurance (including persons with marginal employment).
Data source
Statistics from German Pension Insurance, which include almost all of the 4,500 disability pension allowances granted annually due to a primary or secondary diagnosis. A total of around 40 million people are actively insured by German Pension Insurance.
Calculation
- Observed values: The number of primary and secondary diagnoses that lead to a disability pension in relation to 100,000 actively insured individuals.
- Age standardisation: Direct age standardisation used one age group for the ages under 30, five-year age groups for the ages 30 to 59, and a separate group for the ages 60 and over. The resident population of Germany as of 31 December 2022 with active statutory pension insurance was used as the reference population.
- Stratification: The stratification by federal state is based on place of residence. Stratification by regional socioeconomic deprivation is based on the German Index of Socioeconomic Deprivation (GISD Release 2022 v0.2) (Michalski et al. 2022). The GISD provides information on all rural and urban districts and divides them into quintiles ranging from low to high socioeconomic deprivation. The amputation rate was calculated stratified for each quintile after linkage of the GISD with cases of reduced earning capacity pensions at the district level (ecological correlation).
Data quality
A high quality, complete record of all new cases of pensions linked to benefits for policyholders. In particular, the database does not hold any data on civil servants or people in private/employer-based pension schemes.