Albanians, second in Europe after the Swiss, who feel better in health

According to data published by Eurostat, nearly 83% (80.9) of Albanian citizens over 16 say they self-perceive that they are well or very well in health, out of 69% that is the European average.

The figure refers to 2020. Males have this higher perception, with 84.7% of them claiming to feel better or very well in health, as opposed to women by 80.9%.

Better than Albanians, they perceive that only the Swiss feel, with 83.3%. The figure for Switzerland is 2020.

In the region, Serbs are worse off, with only 63.6% of the population perceived as well or very well in health, Montenegro with 70.3%, northern Macedonia (76.6%). The data for Kosovo is missing.

In fact, the country still has a relatively young population. Albania has the fourth youngest population in Europe, with about 38 years old, after Kosovo (30.5 years- 2020), Turkey (32.8) and Iceland (36.7).

In the region, the older population is in Serbia (44), while other states like Montenegro and Northern Macedonia are approaching the 40-year-old border.

Eurostat's data also shows that good health perception is linked to this feeling in younger ages. 96.5% of the age group from 16-44 feels healthy in Albania, against 88%, which is the average European Union.

But also 45.6% of seniors over 65 say they feel good, the highest in the region and above the EU average of 41%, but much lower than in countries like Switzerland (70%), Ireland (6.8%), the Netherlands (64%), Sweden (64%).

How Europeans perceive health

According to Eurostat, in 2021, in the EU, almost seven out of ten people aged 16 and older estimated their health to be good or very good (69%). The positive perception of health was better in men than in women (72% of men compared to 67% of females).

Among the EU member states, the highest percentages of the population aged 16 and older who perceive their health as good or very good were registered in Ireland (81%), ahead of Greece (7.8%), Cyprus and Luxembourg (both 77%). On the other side of the scale, the EU member states with the lowest percentages were Lithuania (4.8%), Latvia and Portugal (both 50%).

Males were more likely than women to assess their health as good or good in almost all EU member states. The largest gender health gap was registered in Latvia (9 percentage points; pp), Romania (8p) and Lithuania (7 pp). The only exception was Ireland, where the percentage of women reporting good or good health was slightly higher than the male part (0.4 pp).

In the EU, in 2021, the percentage of people reporting good or very good health decreased with age.

The gender health gap expanded by age: it was the lowest for populations aged 16-24 and 25-34 (0.7 and 0.5 pp, respectively) and was the highest for the two oldest groups -- a 6.3pm gap for people of age. 7584 years old and a 5.0 pp gap for people aged 85 and older. /Monitor. al