Bureaucratism costs explode: almost 65 billion euros for companies!

Bureaucratism costs explode: almost 65 billion euros for companies!

Deutschland - Bureaucratism costs for companies in Germany have reached a new high. According to current reports, these costs amount to almost 65 billion euros. However, the actual effort could still be significantly higher, since many obligations from EU law and regulations of associations and self-administrations do not flow into the calculations. As of course reported, companies had to fulfill a total of 12,390 information obligations, which also represents a new record. This mandatory culture has led to the bureaucratic effort for the economy has continuously increased.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, which is calculated by the bureaucracy costs, only specific requirements from federal law are taken into account. Information on the development and the amount of bureaucracy costs is covered by the bureaucracy index (BKI), which depicts the bureaucratic effort for companies. This index measures the effort caused by the completion of "paperwork", including applications, reports and evidence, and is updated regularly. As destatis.de , also flow through monitoring measures and internal process adjustments in the BKI.

The federal government pursues the reduction in bureaucracy as part of its objectives. A central goal is to reduce the reporting obligations in order to minimize the administrative effort. Despite a slight decline in bureaucracy costs in the first quarter of 2025, this contradicts the steadily growing number of information obligations that are often associated with written data.

measurement and development of bureaucracy costs

The bureaucracy index was introduced in 2012 by the Federal Government as part of the “Bureaucracy Design and Better Legal” program and serves the exact measurement and tracking of the bureaucratic stress of companies over the years. A falling BKI indicates relief through new legal regulations, while increasing values ​​indicate new bureaucratic stress. The development of bureaucracy costs is published in the online database ondea, which offers transparency about the loads.

The Federal Statistical Office has also established the BKI's subtindex since 2006, which documents the bureaucratic effort through official statistics obligations. Further information on the bureaucracy costs incurred is available on destatis.de and offer comprehensive insights into the challenges that companies in Germany face.