DAK: Hesse less sick in first half-year

Hessian employees insured with DAK-Gesundheit took slightly fewer sick days in the first six months of 2026 compared to the previous year. The health insurance provider reported that on average, 55 out of every 1,000 employees were on sick leave daily, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points to 5.5 percent.

The average duration of illness in the first half of 2026 was 9.3 days, a slight increase from 9.1 days in the same period of 2025. A notable trend was the significant decline in sick days due to respiratory illnesses, which dropped by approximately 21 percent, from about 248 to 195 days per 100 employees.

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Particularly striking is the decline in respiratory illnesses.

Conversely, sick leave related to mental health conditions saw a 12 percent increase. This shift resulted in psychological illnesses becoming the primary reason for sick leave in the first half of 2026, overtaking respiratory diseases which held the top spot in the previous year. Diseases of the musculoskeletal system, such as back pain, remained the third most common cause for sick leave.

The analysis, conducted by the Berlin-based IGES Institute, evaluated data from approximately 238,200 working DAK-insured individuals in Hesse.

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This has the consequence that in the first half of 2026, mental illnesses were the most common reason for sick leave. In the previous year, it was still respiratory illnesses.