Europe needs health prevention and sufficient skilled workers.

Lifelong health promotion and disease prevention is a prerequisite for healthy ageing. This is emphasised in the joint report of the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), published in mid-November 2024. The report ‘Health at a Glance: Europe 2024’ also highlights the need to address the shortage of health professionals. And this throughout Europe!

In the double demographic trap

In 2022, EU countries lacked around 1.2 million doctors, nurses and midwives. Member States are facing a double demographic challenge: The ageing population is increasing demand for health services, while the ageing of the working population is leading to a higher proportion of workers leaving the health professions. To make matters worse, young people are becoming less interested in health professions, especially nursing. Counter-strategies must be aimed equally at attracting health workers and reducing demand by promoting healthy lifestyles into old age.

Recruitment from abroad

As a short-term strategy, European countries have repeatedly recruited health workers from abroad. After the pandemic-related decline, the number of specialist staff with foreign training qualifications has risen sharply again: by 17 per cent for doctors and as much as 72 per cent for nurses. Such solutions provide some initial relief, but exacerbate the care situation in the countries of origin.

Long-term strategies

In the long term, the report recommends that Europe should take a multi-pronged approach. Working conditions should be improved to make the professions more attractive and to retain people in the health care professions. In the medium and long term, education and training opportunities should be improved to attract more people to the professions. Structurally, the mix of qualifications should be optimised to make the caring professions more attractive. The potential of digitalisation and artificial intelligence should be used to increase the productivity of healthcare personnel.

Prevention and health promotion

It is no longer news that promoting healthy lifestyles can reduce the burden on health and long-term care systems over the long term. The risk factors are also well known: tobacco, alcohol, poor nutrition, lack of exercise, obesity. In 2021, almost 21 per cent of all deaths in the European Union (EU) were due to a combination of these factors. And the risk factors are widespread. What is less well known is that up to 45 per cent of all cases of dementia are preventable if the relevant risk factors are addressed, according to the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention 2024. Such risk factors include, in addition to poor school education, inadequate social integration, hearing problems, depression and obesity, high cholesterol and deteriorating eyesight. The solutions: disease prevention, immunisation, the promotion of mental health at all ages and the teaching of health literacy.

Socioeconomic inequalities

Individual health prospects correlate with socioeconomic status. This is still true today. However, young people are a case in themselves: more than half complain of physical and mental health issues and eat too few fruits and vegetables. Only 15 per cent of young people get enough exercise. Often, both factors come into play. The obesity rate among young people from less well-off families is more than 60 per cent higher than among their peers from better-off families.

Country differences

However, individual health prospects also depend on where you are born. Life expectancy at birth in the EU is 81.5 years. But there are eight years between the country with the lowest life expectancy and the one with the highest. Spaniards and Italians live to be 83.5 years old on average, while people in Bulgaria or Latvia can only expect to live to be 76 years old.