Death of the women's orders in Germany
Report from 2017. The decline will have continued.
The number of members in women's orders in Germany decreased by more than half between 1990 and 2011. This trend will continue to intensify, as the number of novices is only marginal and the aging of nuns is increasing. In 2015, 84 percent of the 16,688 nuns were older than 65.
At the end of 2015, there were a total of 1,399 monastic establishments in Germany with 16,688 nuns. This represents an average of 12 nuns per establishment; the minimum number for an establishment is three nuns. In 2007, there were 1,724 establishments with 23,192 nuns, with an average of 14 nuns. These declining numbers alone indicate how sharply the number of nuns in Germany has declined. From 1990 (44,209 nuns) to 2011 (20,200 nuns), the number decreased by more than half, falling to 16,688 by the end of 2015. On average, three nuns die every day, but only every fifth day does a novice die.
There is an average excess of around 1,000 nuns dying per year, so it is foreseeable when the question will arise whether there are any nuns left in Germany at all.
The specific consequences of this, and how many institutions previously run by nuns (e.g., hospitals) have been transferred to foundations or other organizations, are unknown. However, selling a former monastery is not easy.
This trend – considering the current aging of religious orders – began in the 1950s and 1960s, with the proportion of those over 65 continuing to rise. While 81 percent of nuns were older than 65 in 2007, this figure had already risen to 86 percent by the end of 2015. Due to the low influx of novices, this trend will only intensify.
One hypothesis is that this trend was the expression of a significantly changed image of women in the post-war period, in which women developed different perspectives than choosing a lifelong ministry as the "Bride of Jesus," living celibate lives with a "professment." The diminishing cohesiveness of the Catholic milieu from the 1950s onwards may have intensified this trend, as the integration of a young woman's personal decision to enter a religious order received less support from her family or social environment. Further research will have to clarify this.
In addition, with the steady decline and aging of women's religious orders, the opportunity to encounter a nun at work in public spaces, to be addressed through conversations with her, and to experience her as a role model, has become increasingly limited.
In 2011, 300 nuns (= 1.5 percent) were still working as educators, 285 (= 1.4 percent) as teachers, and 1,370 (6.3 percent) as nurses.
Nuns from India
It is not known how many foreign nuns – mostly from India – are working in Germany to offset the decline in the number of nuns in Germany.
However, as an example, there are more than 60 Indian nuns working in the senior citizens' and nursing homes run by Caritas Nuremberg. 55 Indian nuns work in the dioceses of Aachen, Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Cologne, and Osnabrück. There are 21 nuns from India at St. Francis Hospital in Mönchengladbach. The first arrived 30 years ago, primarily from Kerala in South India. In 2010, there were approximately 110 nuns from various Indian congregations in the Diocese of Trier. Seven nuns serve at the Christian Hospital in Melle, some of whom have been working in Germany for 15 years.
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