Rising Nursing Need The number of people in need of care will rise to around four million by 2035

More and more people in need of care: money alone is no longer enough

According to experts, the number of people in need of care in Germany will rise to four million by 2035. But geriatric nurses are already missing - and the gap is getting bigger and bigger. Money alone will not solve the problem.

More and more people need care

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported a global increase in life expectancy in recent years. The Germans had even reached a new record level before. In view of the aging society, there are also more and more people in need of care. According to a simulation calculation by the German Institute for Economic Research (IW), four million people in Germany may need care by 2035. However, there is a shortage of skilled workers - and the gap is constantly growing.

By 2035, four million people in Germany will need care. But geriatric nurses are already missing. (Image: Kzenon / fotolia.com)

Proportion of people in need of care in eastern Germany particularly high

As the IW wrote in a press release, around three million people were in need of care throughout Germany in 2015, around 50 percent more than in 1999.

In eastern Germany in particular, the proportion of people in need of care in the total population is above average.

In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, for example, this figure is around five percent, in Saxony more than four percent - the national average is 3.7 percent.

The IW simulation shows that the number of people in need of care will rise to around four million by 2035.

Number of nurses must rise sharply

In order to be able to ensure the care of these people in the future, the number of nurses throughout Germany must rise sharply - to around half a million by 2035; a plus of 44 percent compared to today.

Even now, geriatric nurses are being searched urgently. In 2017, there were just 100 unemployed people out of 100 unemployed. This has further exacerbated the situation in recent years.

"The number of geriatric nurses is currently increasing, but slower than demand. The gap is getting bigger, "commented IW scientist Susanna Kochskämper.

As the Institute writes, federal and state governments must create the framework conditions for adequate care and make the care profession more attractive in order to prevent a collapse.

"It's not just about raising the salary," said Kochskämper. It is also advisable to train nursing assistants, and digitization also offers the opportunity to optimize processes and relieve caregivers.

"However, such measures can only be fruitful in the long term if bureaucracy is systematically reduced at the same time," says the expert. (Ad)