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 caresensitive 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.