Paid sick leave: Which countries in Europe have the most generous benefits for ill workers?

At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, German doctors were authorised to grant sick leave to patients over the phone.

But the special measure to avoid unnecessary contact with COVID-19 patients expired at the end of March. It had been in place for three years.

Workers now have to pay physicians an old-fashioned visit to receive a sick note, though patients may still be able to get one from their general practitioner via video call.

The move is expected to help reduce fraudulent claims. Is that because more people call in sick when there are generous schemes in place? And how do paid leave allowances compare across the continent?

In the EU, Germany ranks first in sickness and health benefits expenditure - attributing 11 per cent of its GDP to sick leave and public medical care. It’s followed by France and the Netherlands (both at 10.2 per cent), according to the EU’s statistical office, Eurostat.

The countries that allocate the least to sickness and health benefits are Estonia (4.9 per cent), Lithuania (5 per cent), Poland, Hungary and Ireland (all 5.5 per cent).

According to 2020 figures, Germany is also the country that spends the most on sick leave benefits, specifically. The country allocates 2.3 per cent of its GDP to support sick employees. It’s followed by the Netherlands (2.1 per cent), Sweden (1.7 per cent) Spain (1.5 per cent) and Luxembourg (1.4 per cent).

The 2020 rankings may have been influenced by the coronavirus pandemic, but if we look at the 2018 figures, the countries with the highest expenditure are almost the same, except for Spain, which didn’t spend so much a few years back.

You might assume that countries spending more on sick leave would be the ones where people take more time off work. But the