Publications

The State of Health in the EU cycle is a 2-year process initiated by the European Commission, designed to improve country-specific and European Union (EU)-wide knowledge in the field of health. In this context, the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) jointly developed Country Health Profiles for all 27 EU Member States and for Iceland and Norway.

These concise and policy-relevant Profiles are based on a transparent, consistent methodology that uses both quantitative and qualitative data, flexibly adapted to the context of each EU Member State. 

The 2023 editions focus on the legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges facing countries’ health systems in delivering services, investing in health system recovery and resilience, improving critical areas of the health sector and better preparing for future emergencies.

Each Country Health Profile provides a short synthesis of:

• health status 
• health determinants (including behavioural and environmental risks)
• the organisation of the health system and health spending
• the effectiveness, accessibility and resilience of the health system
• For the first time in the series, a spotlight section on the state of mental health and related services within the country.

   

The aim is to create a means for mutual learning that supports the efforts of EU Member States in their evidence-informed policy-making.

This is the fourth edition of Country Health Profiles, published on 15 December 2023

The Profiles are also available on the European Commission State of Health in the EU cycle webpages: https://ec.europa.eu/health/state/summary_en 

State of Health in the EU – European Commission Synthesis Report