How much does disability insurance cost per month?

Here you can read what drives your price and how to lower it without weakening your cover

The short answer: this is what disability insurance costs per month

There is no standard price for occupational disability insurance, or occupational disability insurance for short: the monthly premium is always calculated individually. For orientation: for employees in predominantly office-based roles, costs usually range between 30 and 100 euros per month, and young graduates can get a 1,000 euro disability benefit from as little as around 25 to 30 euros per month.^[1][2]

Tradespeople and those in physical jobs pay noticeably more: anyone classified in the highest risk group, like a roofer, pays between 100 and 220 euros per month for the same 1,000 euro benefit, depending on the provider.^[3] So the premium always depends on five factors:

• Occupation: the higher the occupational risk, the more expensive the policy.
• Age at inception: the younger, the cheaper the premium.
• Health: pre-existing conditions can trigger a surcharge or an exclusion.
• Benefit amount: a 1,000 euro disability benefit costs more than 500 euros.
• Term: cover up to 67 costs more than cover up to 60.

So the honest answer is: your occupational disability insurance costs as much as your profile demands. What your premium actually costs is shown by a look at the average costs by age and occupational group.

These factors determine your monthly premium

Insurers calculate the premium using just a few, highly effective levers. The two biggest are your age at entry and your occupation. Added to that are your health, the desired benefit amount, the term and your leisure activities: risky hobbies such as motorcycling or flying sports can also trigger a surcharge or an exclusion.

• Age at entry: The earlier you take out the policy, the less you pay over the entire term.
• State of health: The health questions (the questionnaire on pre-existing conditions in the application) usually ask about outpatient treatments from the last five years and inpatient stays from the last ten years.^[4]
• Occupation: Insurers sort occupations into risk classes; the classification can vary depending on the provider.
• Benefit amount and term: Ideally, the policy runs until age 67, because extending it later means a new health and risk assessment.

One point hidden in the fine print: the tariff premium (gross) is the maximum premium, while the payment premium (net) is the actual premium currently due. The difference arises from surpluses that the insurer passes on to policyholders from its investment returns. If these surpluses shrink, your net premium can rise up to the gross premium. So plan your budget cautiously using the tariff premium.

Reassuring news upfront: for most people, the health check turns out better than feared. In 2023, insurers imposed a risk surcharge in only 3 percent of applications, in 10 percent of cases there was a benefit exclusion for certain pre-existing conditions, and only 3 percent of applications were rejected.^[5]

Why tradespeople and manual workers pay more

The biggest price driver is the occupational group (the risk class into which the insurer sorts your occupation). The rule of thumb: the higher the occupational risk, the more expensive the policy. Roofers, scaffolders, heating installers and joiners fall into the highest risk group at many insurers, office and administrative jobs into the middle one, and lawyers, doctors and engineers into the cheapest.

A concrete calculation example: a roofer in their mid-twenties pays between 100 and 220 euros per month for a monthly disability benefit of 1,000 euros until age 67, depending on the provider. For the same protection, an office employee often pays only a fraction.^[6] You can find details in the guide to occupational disability insurance for tradespeople.

Important context: the high premium does not only protect against falls from the roof. Mental illness is the most common cause of occupational disability at 35.75 percent and affects every occupation; musculoskeletal disorders such as back problems follow at 17.85 percent (data as of 2025).^[7] But manual workers bear both: a higher occupational risk and higher premiums.

Occupational disability insurance costs for the self-employed: what you should budget for

As a self-employed person or freelancer, you carry your risk alone: there is no employer salary that keeps flowing, and often no long notice period as a buffer. The statutory reduced earning capacity pension (the state safety net when you can barely work for health reasons) only kicks in if you can do any kind of work for less than six hours a day; the full pension only applies below three hours.^[8]

The scale of the risk: every year, around 170,000 people have to give up their job before reaching retirement age for health reasons.^[8] The average reduced earning capacity pension in 2023 was 972 euros per month.^[9] Statistically, moreover, one in four people will be unable to work at least once during their working life.^[5]

As a rule of thumb for the private disability benefit, 70 to 80 percent of your net income applies.^[7] Work out for your budget which sum would keep covering rent, living costs and retirement provision in an emergency. Anyone counting only on the statutory reduced earning capacity pension of an average 972 euros faces a gap in an emergency that the state does not close.^[9]

Whether your case applies depends on your self-employment, your income and your savings. A general article cannot settle that. The next step: have your individual occupational disability insurance premium calculated calculate your premium, based on your occupation, your age and the benefit level your livelihood really needs.

Lowering the premium without weakening the cover

The most effective savings lever is taking out cover early: new policyholders took out their occupational disability insurance in 2024 at an average age of just under 29, and the younger and healthier you are when you take it out, the cheaper the premium over the entire term.^[5] An important side effect: your occupational group, once classified, stays in place even if you later take up a higher-risk trade.^[10]

• A later-insurance guarantee (the benefit can be increased on certain occasions such as a salary jump or founding a company without a new health check) keeps the cover up to date.^[10]
• A premium dynamic (premium and benefit rise annually by an agreed percentage) protects the benefit against inflation. The guide to occupational disability insurance premium dynamics explains how this works in detail.
• Terms before price: a good contract includes waiving the abstract reference clause (the insurer may not refer you to another, theoretically possible occupation), the six-month prognosis and retroactive benefits from the start of the occupational disability.^[10]
• With pre-existing conditions: an anonymous preliminary risk enquiry shows, without giving your name, which insurer would accept you and on what terms — before an official application burns your chances.^[10]

The good news: in independent tests, most occupational disability insurance tariffs score well to very well, but with identical benefits the price differences reach up to 200 percent.^[10] Saving therefore does not mean cutting benefits, but finding the same cover at a better premium. The overview of occupational disability insurance summarises which criteria matter.

Outlook and next step: calculate your premium

A brief, deliberately open outlook: tariffs, actuarial bases and health questions change constantly, and premiums are recalculated regularly. What premium an insurer will charge for your profile next year cannot be reliably quantified today. Only the comparison at the current point in time is reliable.

The general rule is: the occupational disability insurance premium is always calculated individually — there is no flat rate. Occupation, age, health status and the desired benefit level are what tip the scales for your case. Which classification and which premium you get as a tradesperson, manual worker or self-employed person cannot be settled by a general article; only a concrete enquiry with the insurers will show that.

That is exactly what occupational disability insurance from nextsure is designed for: the brokered policy pays a monthly benefit if you can no longer practise your current occupation due to illness or accident — valid worldwide and with individually tailored tariffs. nextsure is a marketplace and independent broker, not an insurer: we compare tariffs, advise you personally and broker the contract through a consultation. The next step is simple: calculate your premium and see what your cover costs.