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In 2024, 64.2 percent of adults in Germany rated their general health as very good or good. After age standardisation, this proportion has fallen by more than three percentage points since 2023. 21.9 percent of adults showed depressive symptoms. 53.7 percent of adults reported a chronic disease or a long-standing health problem, and the proportion was even higher in those with a lower level of education.
These are some of the data from the new RKI Panel "Health in Germany" which have now been published for the first time. At present, more than 40,000 people aged 16 years and older are registered and repeatedly surveyed. "With the panel, it is possible to collect comprehensive data on the health situation of the population quickly and on a regular basis. Even in a crisis, the infrastructure is now in place to provide very rapid answers to new health questions", explains Prof Dr Lars Schaade, President of the Robert Koch Institute. "The panel is the core of health monitoring at the RKI and an important instrument for providing health policy with data for action and improving people’s health. I would like to thank everyone taking part in the panel for their important contribution", Schaade emphasises. The data are available down to the level of the federal states.
Selected panel findings were presented at a conference in Berlin on 5 December 2025 and summarised in fact sheets (available in German only). The topics are self-rated health, physical limitations, limitations in activities of daily living, chronic illness, non-fatal accident injuries, psychological well-being, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, health inequality, self-rated quality of care for chronic diseases, general health literacy, nutrition-related health literacy, diabetes mellitus and health impacts of climate change. The data are also available in the Health Reporting web portal.
The analyses show that the majority of adults in Germany rate their health as very good or good. At the same time, clear differences between population groups become visible. As people grow older, health limitations increase, while younger age groups are particularly often affected by psychological distress. For almost all health topics, social inequalities can also be observed. The RKI Panel “Health in Germany” provides an important data basis to make differences visible and to target measures more precisely.
In future, the infrastructure will allow not only data from surveys but also data from measurements to be collected, for example blood pressure, as well as sampling for laboratory data. The RKI Panel can also be linked to health data from digital measurement devices such as fitness trackers or smartwatches. It is also planned to include secondary data, for example health insurance data, data from the German Pension Insurance or geodata. With the pilot study Pinokijo, RKI researchers are currently developing a framework concept for nationwide monitoring of child and adolescent health within the panel infrastructure.
There are three to four survey waves per year, which are conducted mainly online. Some participants prefer paper questionnaires. The panel participants were selected using a random sample.
The methodology of the panel is described in two articles in issue 4/2025 of the Journal of Health Monitoring. On the topic of depressive and anxiety symptoms, for which more than 27,000 people were surveyed, a detailed article has been published in the Journal. Articles on further topics will follow in future issues. The panel data will also be made available to other researchers in anonymised and aggregated form.
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The Robert Koch Institute is a federal institute within the portfolio of the German Federal Ministry of Health
https://www.rki.de/panel-en; https://www.rki.de/jhealthmonit-en
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