Some 90.1% of young people aged between 16 and 29 residing in the European Union consider themselves to be in ‘good’ or ‘very good’ health.
This compares to 68.4% of the total EU population over the age of 16, new data from Eurostat showed.
Some 91% of young men aged 16 to 29 in the EU consider themselves to be in good health, as do 89.2% of young women.
The overall share of young people that consider themselves to be in good health has remained relatively stable over time, declining slightly from 92% in 2010 to 90.1% in 2024.
Self-perceived health varied across countries, the data showed. In Romania, Greece, and Croatia, more than 96% of young people rated their health positively, while in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark, the proportion was below 80%.
Relationship between health and income
The relationship between self-perceived health and income was also examined as part of Eurostat’s findings, with 86.7% of 16-29 year olds in the lowest income quintile considering their health to be ‘good’ or ‘very good’, compared with 94% in the highest income quintile.
The Netherlands showed the largest disparity when it came to the relationship between self-perceived health and income, 22.9% difference, followed by Finland (16.9%) and Ireland (10.6%).
An income gap of the self-perceived health status was observed in all but one of the EU countries, Lithuania.
Long-standing issues
In 2024, 16.3% of 16- to 29-year-olds in the EU reported a long-standing health problem, with rates below 4% in Romania, Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy, but as high as 39% in Finland, 24.6% in Sweden and 23.2% in Estonia.
‘Long-standing illness is more frequent among young women: in the EU, in 2024, 14.5% of men and 18.2% of women aged 16-29 years old reported suffering from a long-standing illness or health problems,’ Eurostat noted. Read more here.
