Socioeconomic Disparities In Mortality And Health Care Use During The COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From Germany

Across the globe, populations with low socioeconomic status have borne a disproportionate burden of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article examines the relationship between two socioeconomic factors (education and income) and all-cause mortality and health care use to improve understanding of the impact of the pandemic on socioeconomic disparities in Germany, a high-income country with a universal health care system. We used mortality rates from the period 2011-21 and hospitalizations from the period 2014-21. We examined rates of all-cause mortality and all hospital admissions as well as admissions for respiratory, emergency, cancer surgery, elective, and ambulatory care-sensitive care. Although the use of some health care services was affected by the pandemic, our findings suggest that Germany endured COVID-19 without amplifying socioeconomic disparities in all-cause mortality and large segments of inpatient utilization.