The number of inpatient hospital stays per capita in Austria has fallen by 16.5 percent over the past 25 years. According to Statistics Austria, there were nearly 2.2 million discharges from acute care hospitals in 2024, equivalent to about 231 per 1,000 inhabitants. However, the decline applies exclusively to full inpatient admissions, which dropped by 22 percent. Outpatient day treatments have increased by 26 percent since 2000.
The average length of hospital stays has also shortened. On average, an inpatient stay lasted 6.1 days last year. Twenty-five years ago, patients spent roughly one and a half days longer in hospital on average.
COVID-19 Pandemic Caused Sharp Decline
“Since the turn of the millennium, there has been a general trend toward fewer and shorter hospital stays in Austria,” explained Manuela Lenk, Chief Statistical Director at Statistics Austria, in a statement on Wednesday. This development has not been continuous, however. Hospital admissions dropped sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic but have since increased slightly.
Compared to the year 2000, the total number of discharges from acute care hospitals has fallen by 4.0 percent. Since the population has grown during this period, the per capita decline is significantly stronger—at 16.5 percent. In 2024, two percent of hospital stays involved patients residing abroad, compared to 1.6 percent in 2000. The largest increases were among individuals registered in Hungary, Germany, and Romania.
More Diagnostic And Therapeutic Procedures
Meanwhile, the mortality rate during hospital stays increased, as less severe or early-stage illnesses are now more often treated in outpatient or day-care facilities. As a result, the share of seriously ill patients in full inpatient care has risen, according to Statistics Austria. In 2000, 1.7 percent of patients died during a hospital stay, compared with 2.0 percent in 2024—an almost eight percent increase in hospital deaths since the turn of the millennium.
Hospital stays have also become more treatment-intensive. The number of inpatient diagnostic and therapeutic procedures rose significantly from around 3.2 million in 2000 to about 4.4 million in 2024. In 2024, an average of 2.2 medical procedures were billed per full inpatient stay and 1.2 per day-treatment stay.
