Burnout in care work: 2024 data
Care workers lead the burnout statistics across all occupations.
Care management has 43.9 sick days per burnout case — the longest of any occupational group. Care professionals (32.7 days) and elderly-care helpers (24.4 days) follow. The sector causes 28.2 sick days per 100 AOK members from burnout — almost double the national average.
Care management per burnout case (2023)
Care management per case
Care professionals per case
Sick days / 100 AOK members
Increase 2022 → 2023
Care leads the burnout statistics
The WIdO Fehlzeiten-Report 2024 documents care as the highest-risk industry for burnout. Care professionals cause 28.2 sick days per 100 AOK members from burnout — almost twice the national average. Per case, care management (43.9 days) and care professionals (32.7 days) top all occupational groups.
Drivers in the care sector
- Staff shortages — chronically high patient ratios
- Shift work, weekend and night duty
- High emotional load through patient contact
- Low control combined with high responsibility
- Increasing bureaucratic documentation
Sources
- 1
WIdO Fehlzeiten-Report 2024 — Schwerpunkt Burnout in sozialen Berufen
Wissenschaftliches Institut der AOK, 2024
Pflegende: 28,2 AU-Tage je 100 AOK-Mitglieder durch Burnout.
Quelle öffnen Abgerufen: 2026-05-07 - 2
Burn-out — Berufsgruppen mit den meisten AU-Tagen nach Falldauer 2023
Statista (Datenbasis WIdO), 2024
Quelle öffnen Abgerufen: 2026-05-07 - 3
AOK-Fehlzeiten-Report — Hohes Burnout-Risiko von Pflegefachpersonen
bibliomed-pflege, 2024
Quelle öffnen Abgerufen: 2026-05-07
We use deeplink-friendly originals. Charts are redrawn from the data — no 1:1 copies. For Statista data the underlying primary source (e.g. WIdO, AOK) is named explicitly.
Further reading
Related datasets
Burnout burden AOK 2024
184 Tage · Sick days per 100 AOK members from burnout (2024)
Industry comparison
5,4 % · National average sick-leave rate 2024
Turnover costs
50.000 € · Average turnover cost specialist (Germany)
Tools & guides
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