Long-term trend: mental-illness sick days since 2000 (TK data)

The only continuous series starting in 2000

Techniker Krankenkasse runs the only continuous series on mental-illness absence starting in the year 2000. The Gesundheitsreport 2025 states that absence under a mental-disorder diagnosis among working members reached 328 sick days per 100 insurance years in 2024, the highest level since the analyses began in 2000, when it stood at 129 sick days per 100 insurance years. Compared with the year 2000, absence in 2024 was 155 per cent higher. The reference population is working TK members, not all employees in Germany.

What can be said about the trajectory

• The rise runs across the whole period rather than in a single jump
• Per TK, 2024 is the highest level since the analyses began, with no decline in sight
• The TK sickness rate across all diagnoses fell to 5.08 % in 2025 (2024: 5.23 %), which is not a statement about mental diagnoses
• Frequently named structural breaks (burnout becoming an established diagnosis, rising awareness, pandemic effects) are interpretations, not effects quantified in the reports