The ‘Health at Glance: Europe 2024’ is an annual report by the European Commission and the OECD on the health of Europeans.

This year’s edition, which was published on Monday, focuses on the shortage of healthcare workers and life expectancy.

In 2022, EU countries spent an average of 10.4% of GDP on health care, while Poland allocated 6.4% for this purpose. This is the fourth lowest result in the EU, with only three countries spending less relative to their GDP than Poland: Ireland (6.1%), Romania (5.7%) and Luxembourg (5.6%).

According to the report, the number of healthcare workers in Poland is relatively low. In 2022, there were 5.7 nurses and 3.5 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants, while the EU average is 8.4 and 4.2, respectively.

At the same time, Polish nurses can count on relatively high earnings as they receive 160% of the average salary, which gives Poland top place in this regard, along with Belgium.

The EU average is 120%.

The report also indicated that life expectancy in Poland increased from 77.1 years of age in 2013 to 78.6 years of age in 2023.

However, it is still lower than that of the EU average resident, which is at 81.5 years of age.