The Robert Koch Institute (RKI): main building in Berlin. more
Germany’s Public Health institute RKI monitors the population’s health and wellbeing. more
The Robert Koch Institute is the German government's central institution for the identification, surveillance and prevention of infectious diseases in the Portfolio of the German Ministry of Health. more
Life expectancy in Germany has risen since the 1970s: by nine years to 82.6 years for women, and by ten years to 77.5 years for men. This equates to an increase of more than two years per decade.
Life expectancy is a general measure of the health of a population and therefore has high public health relevance.
With the changing disease spectrum of the population, the spectrum of causes of death is also changing. Healthcare is being faced with new challenges, for example relating to the increasing emergence of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.
At present, methodical and content-related questions on the analysis of the spectrum of causes of death and the changes in this spectrum are being addressed in the Robert Koch Institute.
In both women and men, the most common causes of death are cardiovascular diseases, followed by cancer. Fortunately, the mortality rate is decreasing in both these groups of illnesses. This trend has contributed to an increase in life expectancy, which is one of the causes of the demographic change.
