Bureaucracy costs
Administrative burden index
Making bureaucracy measurable
The administrative burden index concretises the bureaucratic burden on businesses and shows its development over time. Typical paperwork is what the index is aimed at. This includes requests, reports, labelling, statistics and evidence.
The focus is on burdens arising for businesses which, due to federal legislation, "have to provide, transmit or keep available data or other information" (Section 2 (2) of the Act on the Establishment of a National Regulatory Control Council). Such duties are referred to as information obligations. To represent the burdens arising for businesses, the Federal Government decided in 2012 to introduce the administrative burden index as part of the Programme for Bureaucracy Reduction and Better Regulation. The index is based on the administrative burdens incurred by businesses as at 1 January 2012. If the Federal Government initiates legal regulations that will reduce the administrative burdens for businesses, the index will decrease. If it adopts regulations creating new administrative burdens for businesses, this will cause the index to rise.
The Federal Statistical Office updates the administrative burden index on its website in the month following the relevant quarter. Also, the Federal Statistical Office stores the administrative burdens and their development regarding all information obligations in the database OnDEA, which is available to the general public.
Table administrative burden index
Administrative burden index; January 2012 = 100| Year | January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December |
|---|
Due to the discontinuity principle at the end of the 20th legislative period, updated time series values from December 2023 to March 2024. Among other things, this principle means that all proposals not passed by the former Bundestag must be reintroduced and renegotiated. The laws concerned were, therefore, removed from the administrative burden index.
. = Numerical value unknown. |
| 2024 | 95.99 | 96.04 | 94.62 | 94.61 | 94.55 | 94.88 | 94.83 | 94.82 | 94.83 | 94.18 | 94.20 | 94.18 |
| 20231 | 97.56 | 97.73 | 98.14 | 98.25 | 98.28 | 98.41 | 98.44 | 98.41 | 95.82 | 95.95 | 95.96 | 95.94 |
| 2022 | 96.96 | 97.04 | 97.04 | 97.31 | 97.31 | 97.43 | 97.32 | 97.45 | 97.19 | 97.48 | 97.48 | 97.60 |
| 2021 | 97.50 | 97.68 | 97.64 | 97.77 | 97.91 | 97.89 | 98.69 | 98.78 | 98.98 | 99.01 | 99.02 | 96.97 |
| 2020 | 98.61 | 98.60 | 98.66 | 98.64 | 98.65 | 98.69 | 98.68 | 98.59 | 98.56 | 98.55 | 98.54 | 98.52 |
| 2019 | 99.49 | 99.49 | 99.50 | 99.52 | 99.52 | 99.57 | 99.77 | 99.90 | 98.64 | 98.66 | 98.84 | 98.63 |
| 2018 | 99.19 | 99.19 | 99.11 | 99.11 | 99.13 | 99.13 | 99.12 | 99.15 | 99.24 | 99.24 | 99.01 | 99.49 |
| 2017 | 98.99 | 98.97 | 98.97 | 98.94 | 98.94 | 99.16 | 99.21 | 99.18 | 99.03 | 99.17 | 99.17 | 99.11 |
| 2016 | 99.10 | 99.10 | 99.01 | 99.08 | 99.07 | 98.97 | 98.98 | 98.71 | 98.71 | 98.73 | 98.72 | 99.00 |
| 2015 | 100.02 | 100.02 | 100.23 | 100.22 | 100.22 | 98.99 | 99.00 | 98.72 | 98.70 | 98.79 | 99.10 | 99.10 |
| 2014 | 100.32 | 100.33 | 100.33 | 100.33 | 100.31 | 100.40 | 100.40 | 100.41 | 100.35 | 100.36 | 100.08 | 100.13 |
| 2013 | 100.28 | 100.29 | 100.25 | 100.26 | 100.30 | 100.30 | 100.32 | 100.33 | 100.32 | 100.32 | 100.31 | 100.31 |
| 2012 | 100.00 | . | . | . | 100.00 | 100.27 | 100.30 | 100.24 | 100.25 | 100.21 | 100.23 | 100.25 |
As at April 23, 2025
Show print version
