EU countries by healthy life years at birth

Malta had the highest healthy life years at birth of 27 EU countries in 2022, at 70.2 years. Latvia had the lowest, at 54.2 years. The median was 61.2 years and the figure for the European Union (27) was 62.6 years. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

Highest70.2Malta

Lowest54.2Latvia

Median61.227 EU countries

European Union (27)62.6History

Map of EU countries, 2022

Under 59
59 to 61
61 to 63
63 to 66
66 and over

years, 2022. Source: Eurostat, Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2022

years. Source: Eurostat, Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye). Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2022 years	Change on 2021
1	Malta Provisional	70.2	+1.5
2	Italy	67.4	-0.7
3	Greece	67	+1.4
4	Bulgaria Series break	66.7	+3.4
4	Slovenia	66.7	+1.3
6	Sweden	66.5	-1.9
7	Cyprus	66	+0.3
7	Ireland	66	-1.2
9	France Series break	64.4	-1.8
10	Belgium	63.7	-0.9
11	Hungary Series break	62.6	+0.1
12	Poland Series break	62.4	-0.2
13	Czechia	61.8	-0.2
14	Spain	61.2	-1.6
15	Germany Low reliability	61.1	-4.5
16	Austria	60.9	-0.9
17	Croatia Series break	60.3	+1.7
17	Lithuania	60.3	+2.7
19	Luxembourg Series break	60.2	-1.8
20	Estonia	59.3	+2.8
21	Portugal Series break	59.1	+0.8
22	Romania Estimated	59	+1.2
23	Netherlands	58.5	-1.8
24	Finland	57.9	-3.8
25	Slovakia	57.3	+0.5
26	Denmark	55.9	-0.7
27	Latvia	54.2	+0.4

Other periods

About this ranking

Number of years a newborn can expect to live without an activity limitation due to health problems, if current mortality and current rates of reported limitation persist. Both sexes.

Combines mortality with the share of people who report being limited for at least six months in activities people usually do because of a health problem (the EU-SILC global activity limitation question). Not the same as the WHO healthy life expectancy (healthy_life_expectancy), which uses a different method. Values depend on how people answer the survey question in each country, so differences between countries partly reflect culture and wording.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

Eurostat. Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-18.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Eurostat, European Commission. (2026). Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye) (EU countries by healthy life years at birth, 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table

MLA 9

Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye), EU countries by healthy life years at birth, 2022. Eurostat, European Commission, 17 July 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/healthy-life-years-at-birth/eu-countries?period=2022. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye). EU countries by healthy life years at birth, 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 18, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/healthy-life-years-at-birth/eu-countries?period=2022.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye), EU countries by healthy life years at birth, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/healthy-life-years-at-birth/eu-countries?period=2022 (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_healthy_2022,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth\_hlye): EU countries by healthy life years at birth, 2022}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-18},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/healthy-life-years-at-birth/eu-countries?period=2022. Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth\_hlye). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth\_hlye/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-18.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye): EU countries by healthy life years at birth, 2022
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/17
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/healthy-life-years-at-birth/eu-countries?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/18
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/healthy-life-years-at-birth/eu-countries?period=2022.
N1  - Publisher attribution: Eurostat. Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/hlth_hlye/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-18.
ER  -

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest healthy life years at birth?

Malta, with 70.2 years in 2022, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest healthy life years at birth?

Latvia, with 54.2 years in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Eurostat, European Commission, Healthy life years in absolute value at birth, total (hlth_hlye). Retrieved 2026-10-18.