Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2014
Introduction
Germany belongs to the group of countries that have undergone, and are undergoing, dramatic demographic changes. The already high life expectancy at birth, of 77 years and 9 months for men and 82 years and 9 months for women, has been continuously increasing (at the rate of around 3 months for boys, and 2 months for girls) since the last count in 2011 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2011a, 2011b, 2012). Due to the growing birth deficit, which amounted to minus 162,000 in 2008 (equivalent to 0.2 per cent of the population) and which is predicted to reach minus 550,000 (or 0.8 per cent of the population) in 2060 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2011c), the entire German population is shrinking – from 82 million today to around 70 million in 2060. At the same time, the population structure is changing. Today, 21 per cent of Germans are aged 65 or older (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2011a), but this group will grow to 34 per cent in 2060. In particular, the oldest part of the population aged 80 or over will expand from today’s 5 per cent of the population to 14 per cent in 2060 (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2011c). Due to these demographic changes, the need for long-term care will also grow, despite all the progress made in the areas of health promotion, prevention, medical treatment and rehabilitation. Already today, 2.8 per cent of the population (2.3 million people) needs long-term care, up from 2.5 per cent in 1999. Current forecasts to 2030 predict an increase of around 50 per cent to 3.3 million (Statistisches Bundesamt, 2010).
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