Healthy life years increased across the comparable-country sample
Across countries with data in both 2005 and 2024, the average rose by 3.5 years over the full period.
Healthy life years across Europe
How long do Europeans live without activity limitations?
This page tracks healthy life years at birth across European countries from 2005 to 2024. The indicator estimates the number of years a newborn can expect to live without limitations in usual activities due to health problems, under the mortality and health conditions observed in a given year.
Healthy life years complement conventional life expectancy by focusing not only on how long people live, but also on how many of those years are expected to be lived without activity limitations. Across countries with data available in both 2005 and 2024, the average increased from 60.2 years to 63.8 years, although national trends differed substantially and the indicator can show noticeable year-to-year changes.
Explore the data
Key insights
Latest levels differ widely across Europe
Italy recorded 73.4 healthy life years in 2024, while Latvia recorded 52.5 — a gap of 20.9 years.
Long-term changes were far from uniform
Lithuania recorded the largest increase among countries with complete endpoints, while Denmark and the Netherlands recorded declines.
Key comparisons
Selected highlights from the healthy life years dataset, 2005–2024.
Extended analysis
1) Healthy life years increased on average, but less uniformly than life expectancy
Across the 24 countries with values available in both 2005 and 2024, average healthy life years at birth increased from 60.2 years to 63.8 years. The average gain of 3.5 years indicates an improvement across the comparable-country sample, but the country trajectories are much less uniform than a simple Europe-wide average suggests.
Healthy life years are a composite measure combining mortality information with data on limitations in usual activities. Because the health component is based on survey responses, the indicator can move more sharply from year to year than conventional life expectancy.
2) Italy, Malta and Greece recorded the highest latest values
In 2024, the highest healthy life years values in the dataset were recorded in Italy (73.4 years), Malta (70.6 years), Greece (69.9 years), Bulgaria (69.1 years) and Spain (68.6 years).
These values represent expected years without limitations in usual activities, not total life expectancy. A country can therefore have a high overall life expectancy while ranking differently when the comparison focuses on years expected to be lived without activity limitations.
3) Latvia remained at the lower end of the latest comparison
The lowest values in 2024 were recorded in Latvia (52.5 years), Slovakia (57.1 years), Finland (57.3 years), Switzerland (58.0 years) and Estonia (58.6 years).
The gap between the highest and lowest 2024 values was 20.9 years. These differences should be interpreted with care: healthy life years depend partly on self-reported activity limitations, and differences in reporting can affect international comparisons.
4) Lithuania recorded the largest increase over the full comparison period
Among countries with data available in both 2005 and 2024, the largest increases were recorded in Lithuania (+11.4 years), Hungary (+10.1 years), Slovenia (+9.3 years), Estonia (+8.2 years) and Germany (+7.8 years).
These changes describe the difference between the two endpoint years in the supplied dataset. They should not be interpreted as a smooth, uninterrupted improvement because several national series show substantial fluctuations between individual years.
5) Some countries recorded lower values in 2024 than in 2005
Denmark recorded the largest endpoint decline among comparable countries (−6.0 years), followed by the Netherlands (−5.0 years) and Norway (−0.4 years). France was almost unchanged over the period (+0.1 years).
A decline in recorded healthy life years does not by itself identify a deterioration in a specific disease or health service. The indicator combines mortality with survey-based information on activity limitation, so changes can reflect several demographic, health and measurement factors.
How to read this indicator
Healthy life years at birth estimate the number of years a newborn would be expected to live without limitations in usual activities due to health problems if the mortality and health conditions observed in a given year remained unchanged. Eurostat's healthy life years indicator combines mortality data with the Global Activity Limitation Indicator (GALI), which is based on self-reported long-standing limitations in usual activities.
The indicator is also known as disability-free life expectancy. It complements life expectancy by adding a functional-health dimension, but cross-country differences should be interpreted carefully because self-reported limitations can be influenced by survey responses and reporting patterns.
The supplied dataset covers 2005–2024. Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Switzerland have data from 2010 onwards, while Luxembourg is available through 2023. Iceland and Liechtenstein are not shown because no data are available in the dataset used here. The time series shows each country for the years for which data are available. Comparisons covering the full 2005–2024 period include only countries with values in both endpoint years. Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Switzerland and Luxembourg are therefore excluded from full-period rankings and averages.