Overview

• ADAC Stiftung’s Monitor Reanimation 2025 reports roughly 136,000 sudden cardiac arrests annually in Germany, with only about 11% surviving outside hospitals.
• A representative survey finds around 75% of people lack up-to-date CPR skills, 37% do not feel capable of helping, and most feel unsure using defibrillators.
• Experts propose mandatory CPR lessons in schools, incentives for adult refreshers, dispatcher-guided CPR by law, a national AED registry, and funded responder apps.
• Implementation remains patchy: school mandates exist in only Hessen and Saarland, telephone guidance is inconsistent, apps cover about half the country, and AED locations are not centrally recorded.
• Time is critical as brain injury risk rises after four minutes without CPR while emergency services arrive in about seven minutes on average, often longer in rural areas.