Eurostat’s latest regional data on health

Eurostat [1] has just released the Statistical Yearbook 2005 addressing regional data covering the European Union (EU) 25, as well as Bulgaria and Romania. The Yearbook is meant to be a practical statistical guide to the major issues relating to the evolution of the European Union.


Amongst other issues such as agriculture, transport and science, the Yearbook analyses population statistics and health information. The population chapter particularly focuses on fertility trends and tries to explain the regional differences.

Regarding health information, Eurostat acknowledges the difficulty in comparing regional data. Although the role of the regions in managing health issues has developed, the local-government boundaries do not always coincide with the European Nomenclature used by Eurostat. Thus they only compare two types of indicators: mortality and healthcare resources.

All the collected data are based on the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) 2003. NUTS was established 25 years ago in order to provide a more uniformed system of regional indicators.

For more information:

- Regions: Statistical Yearbook 2005 (Please note that the file size is over 3 MB)

- EPHA related article on “Comparing health data across the EU: is it possible?”

- ECHI (European Community Health Indicators) database

Footnotes

[1] Eurostat is the EU statistical service.

Last modified on October 27 2005.