The number of people in need of care in Germany has been increasing for decades. At the end of last year, the Federal Statistical Office counted almost five million people. This is not only due to the increasing age of the population – experts provide several reasons for the continuing increase.
The number of people in need of care continues to rise sharply: according to the Federal Statistical Office, 4.96 million people in Germany were in need of care within the meaning of the Care Insurance Act at the end of 2021. In December 2019, the number of people in need of care was only 4.13 million.
However, the increase of 20 percent within a year also has to do with a change in the law, as the office in Wiesbaden explained. In 2017, the term need for care was broadened, and since then more people have been classified as needing care than before. In addition, according to the office, around 160,000 people who are entitled to benefits according to care level 1 have not yet been recorded – this is also part of the increase, as the statisticians explained.
Overall, the number of people in need of care has been increasing for decades: 20 years ago, only 2.04 million were recognized as being in need of care according to the regulations in force at the time. Ten years ago the figure was 2.5 million. After the reform in 2017, the number exceeded the three million mark, in 2019 it was over four million.
About five out of six people in need of care – 4.17 million people – were cared for at home at the end of 2021. Of these, 2.55 million only received care allowance and were mainly cared for by relatives. Another 1.05 million also lived in private households but were cared for together with or entirely by home care and support services.
Only around one sixth of those in need of care (790,000) were cared for in nursing homes as full inpatients. Compared to December 2019, this number fell by three percent. The number of people being cared for at home, on the other hand, increased by a good quarter. The number of people cared for by outpatient services rose by 6.5 percent, and the number of people cared for primarily by relatives rose by 21 percent. Every third person in need of care was 85 years or older. Overall, 79 percent of those in need of care were older than 65 years.
The majority of those in need of care were female because of the longer life expectancy. The higher the age, the higher the risk of needing care: while only around nine percent of the population between the ages of 70 and 74 required care, the figure for those over 90 was 82 percent.
Most of those affected had care level 2 at the end of 2021 (40.8 percent). Care grade 3 for a greater need for care was awarded in 28.5 percent of cases. 13.4 percent of those in need of care had care level 1 at the end of 2021; There is no care allowance here, only benefits in kind.
