Since 2005, life expectancy in the EU has increased by more than a year, but years lived in health have increased by less than a year. In Poland, we have an even bigger problem: although life expectancy has also increased by a year, but the number of years lived in health has not only not increased, but has decreased - clearly by more than a year.
Senior Health Congress
OECD: what about the aging in health?
Published Jan. 16, 2025 09:10
Fot. Getty Images/iStockphoto
"Living longer, living healthier? Promoting healthy longevity in Europe." - that's the title of the second main theme of the latest OECD and European Commission report "Health at a Glance. Europe 2024." Published last November, the report confirms that European societies are at least living longer than they did two decades earlier, but in the vast majority of countries, healthy aging still remains a challenge, not an implemented plan.
Life expectancy for people at 65 in 2005 for the EU was 18.3 years, by 2022 it was already 19.5 (only Bulgaria saw a decline). Two years were enough for the lion's share of the Old Continent's countries to climb out of the pandemic hole, and the indicators returned to the values from before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report shows that in some countries over two decades the rate has increased by well over 2 years (including Spain, Malta and Ireland). According to the latest data, seniors in France, Spain and Luxembourg will live the longest (at least 21 years). At the other extreme, with a ratio of 15.4, is Bulgaria. The EU average in 2022 was 19.5 years. Poland, with a ratio of 17.7 years, is in the middle of the bottom rate. Since 2005, the indicator has increased in our country by one year - less than in the EU as a whole.
However, the OECD and EC report focuses on an indicator that in highly developed countries (and aging societies) is absolutely crucial, namely - the number of years in health. The report's authors make no secret of the fact that it determines not only the individual perspective, or quality of life, of seniors, but also (and perhaps most importantly) the burden on health care and social support systems, and therefore de facto the public finances of individual countries.
There is a lot of work to be done in this field, as the average EU rate of years lived in health has increased less than the average life expectancy (from 8.3 in 2005 to 9.1 in 2022). Sweden has been the most successful in this field - in less than two decades, the number of years in health has increased from 10.9 to 13.9, so that the country's average citizen, at age 65, has two-thirds of his or her remaining years of life to live in good shape.
Poland belongs to the group of countries that can not talk about any successes: when in 2005 the rate of years in health was 9.5, and in 2022 - 8.1. A poor "consolation" may be the fact that rich Denmark scored a decline even more painful: the number of years in health fell from 12.4 to 10.2. A similar trend was noted in the Netherlands: there, too, the number of years in health over two decades decreased (from 10.8 to 9.1).
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