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How much life cover do you need in Germany?

In short

Do the sum instead of copying a rule of thumb: outstanding loans plus the family's living costs until the children earn their own money, plus education and funeral costs, minus the survivors' pensions, your partner's income and your savings. Families with a mortgage and small children usually land between EUR 300,000 and EUR 600,000.

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How much life cover do you need in Germany?

What it costs

Guide figures from published German tariff examples, healthy non-smokers without surcharges.

Example	Typical range
Age 30, non-smoker, EUR 200,000, 30 year term	about EUR 9 to 16 a month
Age 35, non-smoker, EUR 250,000, 25 year term	EUR 176 a year in the cheapest and EUR 754 in the most expensive tariff, so about EUR 15 to 63 a month
Age 45, non-smoker for ten years, EUR 300,000, 20 year term	about EUR 35 a month across the five cheapest tariffs
Same case as a smoker	about EUR 102 a month, roughly three times as much
Small sum, young non-smoker	from about EUR 2.50 a month

Guide values as of September 2026 from publicly quoted German tariff examples, the same figures as on our German page. The premium ranges in the table and the figures for education and funeral costs in the worked example are guide values from our quoting practice. Your premium depends on age, job, health and term; we obtain the exact quote for you.

Worked example

Family with two children, EUR 240,000 still owed on the house

He is 35 and earns EUR 55,000 gross, she works part time and takes home EUR 1,900 a month. The children are 3 and 6, so the need runs for about twelve more years.

Outstanding mortgage balance	EUR 240,000
Family living costs without him, EUR 3,000 a month over 12 years	EUR 432,000
Education for both children and funeral costs	EUR 50,000
Her own income, EUR 1,900 a month over 12 years	minus EUR 273,600
Widow's pension of EUR 500 after offset plus two orphan's pensions of EUR 130, over 12 years	minus EUR 109,440
Savings and building society plan	minus EUR 30,000

The need comes to around EUR 309,000. They choose EUR 320,000 over a 20 year term, which costs a healthy non-smoker of about 35 roughly EUR 20 to 50 a month. With a decreasing sum for the loan part it gets noticeably cheaper.

Why the rule of thumb is often too low

Three to five times gross annual income: that rule is in almost every German guide, and it comes from a time before large mortgages. On a gross income of EUR 55,000 it gives EUR 165,000 to EUR 275,000. That carries a family for a few years, but it does not pay off a home loan.

The rule falls short in exactly two situations: when a mortgage is running and when the children are small. A loan is a fixed number that has to be added. Small children extend the need by fifteen years or more, because the surviving parent can work less in that time, not more.

How to work out the sum

Six items, three upwards and three downwards. Upwards: the outstanding balance of every loan today, the family's living costs over the years your income is missing, plus education and funeral costs. Downwards: the statutory survivors' pensions, your partner's own income and your existing savings.

For living costs, what matters is the gap, not your salary. Work out what the family needs each month, subtract what still comes in without you, and multiply the gap by the years until the youngest child earns. For education, EUR 20,000 to EUR 25,000 per child is a workable figure, for a funeral EUR 8,000 to EUR 10,000.

What the state pension leaves you

The large widow's or widower's pension is 55 percent of the pension the deceased would have received, or 60 percent for marriages before 2002 under certain conditions. The small widow's pension (kleine Witwenrente) is 25 percent and normally runs for two years only. Each child gets 10 percent as a half orphan and 20 percent as a full orphan. For the three months after the month of death the pension is paid in full (Sterbevierteljahr).

Here is the point most people miss: the surviving partner's own income is set off against the pension. Above an allowance of just over EUR 1,120 a month, 40 percent of the excess income is deducted from the widow's pension. Two extra points matter for newcomers to Germany. The deceased must have paid contributions for at least five years, so someone who arrived recently may have no claim at all. And years insured abroad in the EU can count towards that period, which is worth checking before you assume the worst.

Situation, sum insured and premium

The table shows where the calculation usually lands and what it costs. The premium ranges apply to healthy non-smokers between 30 and 40 with a term of 20 to 25 years.

Read the first row too: there are cases where you need no cover at all. If you have no debts and nobody depends on you, term life insurance buys you nothing you can use.

Situation	Suggested sum insured	Premium range
Single, no loan, nobody dependent	none, the cover is unnecessary	EUR 0
Couple without children, no loan	one to three times annual income	about EUR 5 to 15 a month
Couple with a mortgage, no children	outstanding balance plus two annual incomes	about EUR 10 to 30 a month
Family, small children, no loan	four to five times annual income	about EUR 15 to 40 a month
Family, small children, mortgage	outstanding balance plus four to five annual incomes	about EUR 20 to 70 a month
Single parent	five annual incomes plus childcare costs	about EUR 15 to 45 a month

The sum is allowed to shrink

Your need is not constant. The loan is repaid, the children grow up, your savings grow. Twenty years after buying a house the outstanding balance is halved and the youngest child has left school. A sum that stays the same until the last day insures a need that no longer exists.

That is what the decreasing sum insured (fallende Summe) is for: it drops every year, usually in step with the repayment schedule, and costs clearly less than a level sum. A mix often works best, namely a decreasing sum for the loan and a smaller level sum for the family.

Step by step

Write down the outstanding balance of every loan as of today.
Estimate the family's monthly living costs without your income and multiply the gap by the years until the youngest child earns.
Add education costs per child and funeral costs.
Subtract the widow's or widower's pension, the orphan's pensions, your partner's income and your savings, using the pension after the income offset.
Round the result up and check whether a decreasing sum is enough for the loan part.

Checklist

The full outstanding mortgage balance is included in the sum
Living costs calculated until childcare ends, not just for three years
Survivors' pensions taken after the offset against your partner's income
Right to increase the sum (Nachversicherungsgarantie) agreed for birth, marriage and house purchase
The term ends when the need ends, not years later
Five years of German contributions checked, or EU periods counted, before you rely on a state pension

Common mistakes

Using only the rule of thumb and forgetting the mortgage
Taking the widow's pension at 55 percent and ignoring the offset against your own income
Keeping the sum small so the premium stays small, instead of choosing a decreasing sum
Insuring only the main earner, although childcare would also have to be paid for

Questions and answers

Frequently asked

What sum insured is typical in Germany?

Without a loan usually EUR 150,000 to EUR 300,000, with a mortgage and small children EUR 300,000 to EUR 600,000.

Are three times gross annual income enough?

Only without major debts and without small children. With a mortgage or young children it is too low, because the loan has to be repaid on top.

How high is the German widow's pension really?

The large widow's pension is 55 percent of the deceased's pension. On average widows receive around EUR 820 and widowers around EUR 460 a month, and own income above about EUR 1,120 is set off against it.

Do the children get money as well?

Yes, an orphan's pension of 10 percent of the pension, on average about EUR 240 a month, until 18 and up to 27 while in training.

Do I get a pension if I only recently moved to Germany?

Only if five years of contributions are met. Insurance periods in other EU countries can count towards that, so have it checked.

Can I raise the sum later?

With a Nachversicherungsgarantie yes, on marriage, birth or buying a home without new health questions. Agree it when you take out the policy.

May the sum decrease over the years?

Yes, and with a loan that is usually the better route. The decreasing sum follows the repayment schedule and costs clearly less.

Sources

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