Greeks, Italians have the most positive self-perception of their health among Europeans

Greeks, Italians and Maltese  have the most positive self-perception of their health compared to their fellow EU nationals, suggests the latest data from Eurostat after only 4.6%, 4.7% and 3.7% respectively of their nationals self-perceive their health as bad or very bad.

According to the 2020 data the highest shares of nationals aged 45-64 years who self-perceived their health as bad or very bad in 2020 were recorded in Croatia (14.8%), Slovakia (13.2%) and Germany (12.6%).

In the EU in 2020, the share of non-nationals 16 years or older in a bad or very bad state of self-perceived health was lower than for nationals (7.8% for non-EU citizens and 7.2% for EU citizens except nationals, compared with 8.6% for nationals).

However, this reflects the different age structures of nationals and non-nationals: non-nationals living in private households in the EU are younger than nationals, whereas the highest share of people in a bad or very bad state of self-perceived health is among people 45-64 years old. This means that complementary analysis by age group is necessary to compare the health of non-nationals with that of nationals.

In the 16-44 years age group, there were no significant differences between nationals and non-nationals regarding a bad or very bad state of self-perceived health  (2.3% for nationals compared with 2.5% for EU citizens except nationals and 2.3% for non-EU citizens).

However, significant differences emerged in the 45-64 years age group. While only 8.0% of nationals reported a bad or very bad state of health, 10.0% of EU citizens except nationals and 14.8% of non-EU citizens reported the same.

Among the EU Member States, the share of non-EU citizens aged 45-64 years perceiving their health as bad or very bad was the highest in Germany (28.7%), Denmark (26.0%) and France (25.6%). Meanwhile, the lowest shares were recorded in Poland (2.3%) and Italy (2.4%), while in Finland there was not a significant number of non-EU citizens aged 45-64 years in a bad or very bad state of self-perceived health in 2020.

For EU citizens except nationals (i.e. EU citizens residing in another EU country), the share of those aged 45-64 years who reported a bad or very bad state of health was the highest in Portugal (27.0%), followed by Latvia (16.9%) and Austria (15.9%). The lowest shares were observed in Malta (1.2%), Ireland (2.4%) and Italy (2.5%).

[Eurostat]