State of Health in the EU

The Commission and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published the Health at a Glance: Europe 2024 report. This year’s edition highlights the importance of lifelong health promotion and disease prevention to boosting healthy ageing. It also stresses the urgent need to address health workforce shortages across Europe.

The report demonstrates that although life expectancy at birth in Europe has rebounded after the pandemic to an average of 81.5 years, an 8-year gap persists between countries with the highest and lowest life expectancies. Gender-based differences in healthy life-years across the EU are also outlined, showing that while women live longer than men on average, they spend 5 years more than men on average in poor health.

The report also underlines the urgent need for action to address health workforce shortages, estimated at 1.2 million doctors, nurses and midwives in 2022. With over one-third of doctors and a quarter of nurses in Europe aged over 55 and expected to retire in the coming years, decisive action is necessary to ensure Europe’s healthcare workforce is supported. Action is required at several different levels, including greater investment, improved working conditions and more training opportunities.