Mental health issues drive rise in German workplace sick leave

Data from major German health insurance providers indicate a significant rise in sick leave due to mental health issues. In Schleswig-Holstein, an analysis by DAK-Gesundheit for the first half of 2026 showed a 15 percent increase in sick days attributed to mental illness, making it the most frequent cause for absence. The number of missed days per 100 employees rose from 187 in the first half of 2025 to 214 in the same period of 2026.

On a broader scale, DAK reported a 9 percent increase in sick leave for mental health diagnoses among its 2.2 million insured members. While overall sick leave rates saw a slight decrease of 0.1 percentage points to 5.3 percent, mental health issues remain particularly impactful due to their duration. AOK data from 2025 highlighted that mental illnesses result in an average of 28.5 absence days per case, compared to 23.3 days for all diagnoses combined.

Experts, including Claudia Buengeler from Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, note that while it is difficult to isolate work as the sole cause due to private and social factors, the workplace plays a major role. Contributing factors include high workloads, unclear responsibilities, contradictory leadership patterns, and the pressures of permanent availability and new technologies.