This section tracks how often things go wrong in Germany, and whether it is getting better or worse. Each page gives a short trend summary, the numbers behind it, recent cases, 20 years of official press releases and a credited photo list. Figures come from federal agencies first (the Federal Statistical Office Destatis, the Robert Koch Institute, the Federal Criminal Police Office BKA, the accident investigators BFU and BSU, and the German Social Accident Insurance DGUV), then from state agencies and national bodies such as the insurers’ association GDV and the life-saving society DLRG. Many releases are published only in German, so we translate titles and mark those links, and many figures are published separately by each federal state.
Where the trends point
- Getting worse: fraud losses from abroad, forest fire area, fire costs, falls, cyclist and e-scooter accidents, and whooping cough.
- Getting better: long-run fire deaths, age-standardised heart disease and cancer death rates, and deaths in commercial shipping.
- No clear trend: earthquakes, which are frequent but small, and aviation, where a few crashes swing the totals.
Fewer deaths, costlier firesFire
Home fires, building fires and forest fires.
Small but frequentEarthquakes
ML 3.5 near Worms in September 2026; 8,000+ quakes in the 2024 Vogtland swarm.
MixedTransport accidents
Road, maritime and aviation.
Fraud moving abroadFinancial fraud
€2.3 billion lost to fraud committed from abroad in 2025.
MixedDisease
Infectious and chronic disease.
Falls keep risingInjuries
21,176 deaths from falls in 2024; 2,150 drug-related deaths in 2025.
How this page is built. Figures come from the official statistical releases linked above; where agencies publish provisional numbers we say so, because they are revised. German statistics are often published separately by each federal state (Land) and some only in German, so we say which area and period each figure covers and translate titles. Photos are public-domain or Creative Commons images credited in each caption; file photos are illustrative and are not from the events described unless the caption says so. This page tracks trends and is not personal safety, medical, legal or financial advice.