GSB 7.1 Standardlösung

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Prevention expenditures

Prevention measures, such as course offerings for promoting physical activity in businesses and schools (Franzkowiak 2022), can contribute to lowering the burden of type 2 diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases (Jordan et al. 2012; Schwarz et al. 2007). Prevention expenditures in the health expenditure billing combine all services that are intended to prevent the development or the further spread of diseases. A sufficient financing of prevention programs is important, so that they do not fail because of financial obstacles.

Key messages

  • The proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures in 2022 was 7.86%.
  • The proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures remained relatively constant between 1992 and 2020 and increased tremendously in 2021.
  • In 2022, the proportion of prevention expenditures in the health expenditures continued to increase.

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Result

In 2022, 467 € were spent in Germany per inhabitant for prevention and health protection. This corresponds to a proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures of 7.86%. Between 1992 and 2020, the expenditures for prevention have increased steadily from 73 € to 180 € per inhabitant, however, the expenditures for prevention doubled in 2021 to 369 €. During the time period from 1992 until 2020, the proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures was relatively constant (1992: 3.69%; 2020: 3.39%) and increased tremendously in 2021 (6.48%). The increase of the absolute prevention expenditures as well as the proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures continued in 2022.


Conclusion

The expenditures for prevention and health protection in Germany increased continuously in the last 25 years. The proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures remained almost unchanged thereby up to 2020 since an increase in health expenditures corresponded to an increase in absolute prevention expenditures. The expenditures for prevention and health protection increased tremendously during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and 2022 and is linked to expenditures due to the pandemic. Overall, the proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures is relatively low. To lower the incidence of type 2 diabetes and other common noncommunicable diseases, among other measures a further increase of the prevention expenditures should be considered.

Show more information on methodology and data sources

Definition

The indicator prevention expenditures is defined as proportion of the prevention expenditures in the health expenditures per inhabitant in Germany. All services, which are intended to prevent the development or the further spread of diseases in advance or at an early stage, are combined under the prevention expenditures in the health expenditure billing. The monitoring and supervisory roles provided by the government departments, the public health departments, and other institutions are thereby considered as well (Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Bundes 2024).

Data source

Health expenditure billing. The health expenditure billing gives an overview of the structure and development of the expenditures in healthcare. The expenditures in healthcare are thereby combined by spender, types of service and institutions (Destatis 2024).

Calculation

  • Observed relative values: Quotient of the expenditures for prevention per inhabitant and the health expenditures per inhabitant (Gesundheitsberichterstattung des Bundes 2024)
  • Observed absolute values: Sum of the expenditures for prevention per inhabitant

Data quality

The health expenditures are calculated based on 35 data sources. These are mainly business and accounting results, statistical and financial reports, budgetary plans, and industry reports. The statistics are subject to the quality criteria of the official statistics or are validated by the data owners. For time trends, it should be noted that no inflation adjustment is applied. Additional information on data quality are summarized elsewhere (Stahl 2020; Destatis 2024). A differentiation of the prevention expenditures with regard to expenditures for primary prevention and secondary prevention is not possible.