Background: The aim of this study is to identify the degree of institutionalised dying and to assess the differentiation between place of death, be it at a hospital, in a nursing home or at home (with/or without home care), as well as to illustrate trends in the place of death distribution.
Data and methods: Process-produced routine data of the deaths of patients insured with the statutory health insurance "Gmünder Ersatzkasse" (GEK, n = 59,922) are used to calculate distributions of the deceased population (≥ 30 years old) from 2000-2009.
Results: In 2009, about 248,000 (29 %) and 598,000 (71 %) people in Germany died at home and in an institution, respectively. During the last 10 years the degree of institutionalised dying has increased by 6 percentage points. Women die more frequently in institutions than men (74 % compared to 67 %). For older age groups, dying in nursing homes becomes more prominent than dying in hospitals.
Conclusion: The discrepancy between the preferred (at home) and empirically ascertained (institutions) place of death could increase even further as a result of the demographic as well as disease-specific developments in Germany.