Nine out of 10 young people living in the EU considered themselves to be in good or very good shape in 2024.
This figure has seen a slight decline in the 27-member bloc, dropping from 92% in 2010 to 90.1% in 2024, according to Eurostat.
Young people aged 16 to 29 living in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark were the least likely to report being in good or very good health.
In contrast, young people in Romania feel much healthier. A whopping 98.2% of people aged 16 to 29 living here perceive themselves to be in good or very good shape, followed by Greece at 97.7% and Croatia at 96.2%.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.
What factors can affect how people view their own health?
The perception of well-being among individuals in the EU may be influenced by overall health standards across the bloc, as well as by social and cultural differences.
However, higher income is most often associated with better perceived health.
In the EU, 86.7% of young people in the lowest income group perceived their health as good or very good in 2024, compared with 94.0% in the wealthiest group.
The most significant difference in the share of young people reporting very good or good health between the highest and lowest incomes was recorded in the Netherlands, with a 22.9 percentage point margin, followed by Finland, with a 16.9% gap, and Ireland, with 10.6%.
On the other hand, the lowest differences were observed in Slovakia, with a 0.3 percentage point gap, Cyprus (0.5%), Malta and Greece (all at 0.8%).
How common are long-term health problems in young people?
Chronic health issues, such as cancer, stroke and diabetes, affect 16.3% of young people in the EU.
Long-standing health problems are by far the leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide, according to the WHO.
Young women are more likely to face these problems than men, with 22 EU countries showing this pattern.
The disparity is starkest in Finland. Here, women are almost 11% more likely to report long-term health issues than men.
The situation is also concerning in Denmark, where this gap was 7.1%, followed by Sweden at 6.8%.
