Almost 10,000 cases recognized
Occupational diseases: One diagnosis towers above all others
09/27/2026 – 8:48 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Around 91,000 employees applied for recognition of an occupational disease in 2025. Noise in particular is becoming an increasingly greater risk.
Professional associations and accident insurance funds recognized significantly fewer occupational diseases last year than in 2024. While the number of applications rose by 0.6 percent to 91,250 compared to the previous year, the number of recognized occupational diseases fell by 9.25 percent to 24,340. In 2024, 26,821 occupational diseases were recognized. This emerges from current figures published by the statutory accident insurance.
Hearing loss is increasing
In 2025, the most common occupational disease recognized was noise-induced hearing loss. There has been a significant increase here in recent years. While 7,609 cases of noise-induced hearing loss were confirmed as an occupational disease in 2023, this number rose from 8,897 in 2024 to 9,819.
Skin cancer caused by natural UV radiation (squamous cell carcinoma) or its precursors was recognized as an occupational disease for 3,899 insured people. Here too, the trend is slightly increasing (2023: 3,517). The third most common cause of occupational illness was infectious diseases (2,656). Here – mainly due to the Covid-19 pandemic – over 54,000 cases were recognized in 2023.
| Occupational disease | Recognized cases 2024 | Recognized cases 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Hearing loss caused by noise | 8,897 | 9,819 |
| Squamous cell carcinoma (non-melanoma skin cancer) | 3,713 | 3,899 |
| Infectious diseases | 6,540 | 2,656 |
| Skin diseases | 2,048 | 1,899 |
| Asbestosis (dust lung disease) | 952 | 907 |
| Diseases of the lumbar spine | 734 | 710 |
| Mesothelioma (Malignant tumor caused by asbestos exposure) | 562 | 585 |
| Carpal tunnel syndrome | 466 | 523 |
| Gonarthrosis (wear of the knee joint cartilage) | 286 | 398 |
An occupational disease is an illness that an insured person suffers as a result of their professional activity. In addition, the respective illness must be listed in the Occupational Diseases Ordinance.
Comprehensive accident insurance coverage
If an insured event is discovered, the insured person is entitled to comprehensive benefits from the accident insurance. This includes:
- The healing treatment
- Services for participation in working life (retraining, redesign of the workplace, advice)
- Benefits in the event of a need for care (care allowance, position of a carer)
- Cash benefits, such as injury benefits or survivor benefits
Statutory accident insurance has a number of advantages over statutory health insurance. This includes, among other things, the payment of injury benefit, which is paid out if work cannot be carried out for more than six weeks as a result of an accident at work or an occupational disease. The injury benefit amounts to 80 percent of the gross wage and is therefore higher than the sick pay (70 percent of the gross wage).
Insurance pays out more new pensions
Last year, statutory accident insurance paid out 5,413 new pensions, which was 4.3 percent more than in 2024.
