Today, the European Commission and the OECD will release their joint publication ‘Health at a Glance: Europe 2022’ at a launch webinar at 15:00-16:30 CET, kicking off the fourth round of the State of Health in the EU cycle. 

The discussion will be opened by Sandra GALLINA (Director General, DG Health and Food Safety, European Commission) and Stefano SCARPETTA (Director, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs, OECD). The webinar will feature a panel discussion with high-ranking health officials from Belgium, Finland, Ireland and Slovenia.

• Agenda and registration for the launch webinar

The publication uses the most recent data to provide a comprehensive, comparative analysis of the key challenges that European countries must address in order to develop stronger, more resilient health systems following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first thematic chapter of the publication investigates the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain the spread of the virus have had on the mental and physical health specifically of young people, whose formative years have been marked by fear, uncertainty and disruption. The analysis finds that, although most European countries have implemented a variety of measures to cushion the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on young people’s health, the magnitude of the impact warrants additional action to prevent the pandemic from permanently scarring an entire generation of children and young adults.

In addition to the thematic chapter assessing the pandemic's impact on young people's health, the 2022 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe assesses the disruption of a wide range of health services for non-COVID patients throughout the pandemic, as well as the policy responses implemented by European countries to mitigate the negative consequences of this disruption. 

The report also provides comparative analyses of the health status, risk factors, health expenditure, quality and access to care in 38 European countries. For the first time, this edition of Health at a Glance: Europe covers includes a limited set of data for Ukraine and Moldova, the two most recent European countries to be granted EU candidate status.

More information: 

• Health at a Glance: Europe 2022 – full report
• Health at a Glance: Europe 2022 – executive summary, factsheet
• More information on the ‘State of Health in the EU’ project