Higher contribution
Who is considered childless in long-term care insurance?
Updated on May 26, 2026 – 8:52 amReading time: 2 minutes
In statutory nursing care insurance, there is a childlessness supplement in addition to the normal contribution. But what exactly does “childless” mean?
Anyone who has health insurance in Germany is also a compulsory member of the nursing care insurance. Those with statutory health insurance automatically become members of the social long-term care insurance (SPV), while those with private insurance must take out compulsory long-term care insurance (PPV). Statutory nursing care insurance has a special feature for those without children: you have to pay a surcharge.
Nursing care insurance: Who is considered childless?
You are considered childless for the purposes of long-term care insurance if you have neither biological children nor stepchildren, adopted children, or foster children. It is irrelevant whether you are involuntarily childless. However, there is an age limit for the childless allowance.
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- Take precautions: Does supplementary nursing care insurance make sense?
It only applies to you when you turn 23. If you receive citizen’s benefit, do military or community service or were born before January 1, 1940, you are exempt from the surcharge. Anyone who no longer has a child because they have died is not considered childless in long-term care insurance and therefore does not have to pay any surcharge. The same applies to parents whose children are already adults.
Good to know
There is no surcharge for childless people who have private nursing care insurance. Because in compulsory long-term care insurance, the contribution is based on the state of health and the age of entry – not on the offspring.
Amount of the childless allowance
Since July 1, 2023, the premium surcharge for long-term care insurance for childless people has been 0.6 percent. In total, they pay 4.2 percent, as the general contribution rate has been 3.6 percent since 2025.
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Since the employer pays 1.8 percent of the general rate but does not contribute to the childless allowance, you as a childless person currently pay a total of 2.4 percent of your gross income into statutory nursing care insurance. An exception applies in Saxony: There the employer subsidy is only 1.3 percent, so that those without children pay a total of 2.9 percent of their gross income.
