People in Saxony are absent less often due to illness

According to health insurance companies, people in Saxony missed less work due to illness on average last year than in the previous year. According to the Techniker Krankenkasse (TK), the sickness rate in 2025 was 4.95 percent and therefore below the previous year's figure of 5.08 percent. Barmer also recorded a slight decrease. At 6.2 percent, the figure for 2025 was 0.1 percentage points lower than the previous year.

According to the health insurance companies, the most common reasons for absences were colds or mental health diagnoses. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) recently sparked a debate when he criticized the fact that people in Germany take sick leave too quickly. Among other things, he suggested thinking about how incentives could be created to encourage people to work. The possibility of sick notes by telephone was also discussed afterwards.

According to the TK insurance company, people in Saxony missed an average of 18.1 days at work due to illness last year - less than in previous years (18.6 days in 2024, 19 days in 2023). Merz had spoken of a nationwide average of 14.5 days in mid-January. However, this means that people in Saxony were still absent much more frequently than in other states. Barmer also stated that the number of days of incapacity to work in Saxony is above the national average.