Germany letter volume, competitors
Germany letter volume, competitors stood at 1.19 billion items in 2025, according to Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur). It is one of the indicators in the Postal and parcel market table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2017 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Postal and parcel market table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total letter volume | 9.38 | 10.16 | 10.92 | 11.93 | 12.21 | 12.38 | 13.59 | 14.19 | 14.9 | |
| Competitors | 1.19 | 1.24 | 1.41 | 1.73 | 1.81 | 1.79 | 1.9 | 2.03 | 2 | |
| Deutsche Post Group | 8.2 | 8.92 | 9.51 | 10.2 | 10.4 | 10.59 | 11.69 | 12.16 | 12.9 |
Understanding germany letter volume, competitors
Competitor volume unites the annual mail traffic collected, sorted, and delivered by licensed independent postal carriers operating across the country. The count includes regional delivery consortia, specialized business-mail consolidators, and independent municipal carriers operating under formal postal licenses granted by regulatory authorities. It stands in direct contrast to the Deutsche Post Group volume row, measuring solely the non-incumbent segment of the domestic letter market while excluding all merchandise parcels, expedited freight, and unaddressed commercial leaflet distribution.
Annual figures minimize the distortions of quarterly business cycles, making year-on-year comparisons the appropriate method for studying non-incumbent mail traffic over time. A key interpretive consideration involves regulatory reporting compliance, as changes in the survey registry or adjustments in mandatory filing thresholds for small regional mail services can cause statistical level shifts between reporting periods. Furthermore, because alternative carriers often focus on contracted municipal business mail rather than nationwide residential post, geographic delivery boundaries make this total structurally distinct from universal service volumes.
Frequently asked questions
- Which businesses are classified as competitors in this series?
- Competitors encompass all privately owned and regional postal operators holding licenses to provide letter collection and distribution services outside Deutsche Post Group.
- Are unaddressed circulars counted within competitor letter volume?
- Unaddressed household advertising and flyers distributed without individual postal addresses are excluded from official letter volume statistics.
- How does competitor volume interact with total letter volume?
- Summing this series with the Deutsche Post Group letter volume yields the total national letter volume reported in the parent row of the table.