Nine of the 10 young people living in the EU considered themselves in good or very good condition in 2024.
According to Eurostat, the figure fell slightly in the 27-person block, down from 92% in 2010 to 90.1% in 2024.
Young people ages 16 to 29 lived in Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
In contrast, Romanian youth are much healthier. A whopping 98.2% of people living here between the ages of 16 and 29 feel that they are in good or very good shape, with Greece at 97.7% and Croatia at 96.2%.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, not merely a lack of illness or frailty.”
What factors influence how people view their health?
EU perceptions of happiness among individuals may be influenced by overall health standards across the bloc, as well as social and cultural differences.
However, higher incomes are mostly related to better perceptions of health.
In the EU, 86.7% of young people in the lowest income group recognized them as healthy in 2024, compared to 94.0% in the wealthiest group.
The most important difference in the share of young people reporting very good or good health among the highest or lowest incomes in the Netherlands was recorded at a margin of 22.9%, followed by Finland, with a gap of 16.9% and Ireland at 10.6%.
Meanwhile, the lowest difference was observed in Slovakia, with a 0.3 percentage point gap, Cyprus (0.5%), Malta and Greece (all 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 EU youth.
According to the WHO, long-standing health issues are a major cause of mortality and disability worldwide.
Young women are more likely to face these problems than men, with 22 EU countries showing this pattern.
The gap is the most severe in Finland. Here, women are almost 11% more likely to report long-term health problems than men.
This situation is also a concern in Denmark, with the gap being 7.1% and Sweden at 6.8%.
