The topic of health permeates all areas of life. Health has long been a “megatrend.” The healthcare industry is one of the largest sectors of the German economy. It is a growth driver due to its innovative strength and employment intensity. The industry is also developing more steadily than the economy as a whole. Fluctuations in overall economic activity are thus dampened.

For these reasons, too, the healthcare industry is of particular importance to the work of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi). The BMWi’s main focus is on the following aspects:

Health economic accounts

In order to measure the contribution of the healthcare industry to value creation and employment development in Germany, the BMWi has commissioned economic studies on the healthcare industry to be carried out on a regular basis for several years. At the heart of these analyses is the health economic accounts (HAA). The GGR allows the health economy to be separated from the national accounts as a cross-sectional industry and to be viewed in a differentiated manner. It covers all health-related goods and services provided in Germany and thus goes beyond the focus of health expenditure accounting.

Currently, GGR’s most current and expanded evaluation, “Health Care Industry Facts & Figures,” captures health care industry data through 2019. Furthermore, a separate evaluation has been carried out for the federal states. The country results of the GGR are presented in a separate brochure. This year’s special topic is medical care. A “manual” on GGR has been developed as an explanation of the GGR methodology.

The GGR shows how much employment and value added the health care industry generates and how this develops over time. The updated figures for the observation year 2019 once again show that the healthcare industry continues to be the engine of growth and employment in Germany in the newly examined period.

In 2019, the gross value added of the healthcare industry amounted to 372 billion euros. This corresponds to around 12 percent of gross value added in Germany. In 2019, approximately 7.5 million workers were employed in the healthcare industry, or nearly 17 percent of all workers in Germany. Since 2010, the number of people employed in the healthcare industry has increased by 1.2 million.

The latest results of the health economic accounts show that the gross value added of the health economy has grown stably over the past 10 years, significantly more than that of the economy as a whole. On average, it grew by 4.1 percent per year, while the overall economy grew by 3.3 percent.

The economic activity of the healthcare industry ensures positive spillover effects in the German economy as a whole. The interlinking with players from other sectors of the economy generates (through indirect and induced effects) total gross value added effects of around 306 billion euros. Put simply: Every euro of gross value added in the healthcare industry is accompanied by 0.82 euros of additional gross value added in the economy as a whole. In addition, the economic activity of one worker in the industry is associated with 0.61 additional workers in the overall economy.

Digitization

The digital transformation process is now clearly picking up speed in the healthcare sector as well. However, the potential of digital innovations for prevention, healthcare and care is far from exhausted. Therefore, digitization offers enormous potential for future growth and new business models for the healthcare industry. Not only can the insured and contributors benefit from this in the form of improved processes and procedures, innovative therapies and novel healthcare solutions, but also the companies and start-ups in the healthcare industry.