Poland has lowest number of doctors per capita in EU: report
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
24.11.2016 07:46
Poland is among EU countries with the lowest expenditure on health care, and has the lowest number of doctors per person, according to a report by the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development published on Wednesday.
Photo: pixabay.com
The "Health at a Glance 2016" report presents key indicators of health and health systems in the 28 EU countries, five EU candidate countries as well as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.
According to the report, residents of Western Europe often enjoy longer lives than people in Central and Eastern Europe. While people in Spain, Italy and France may expect to live to about 83 on average, Romanians, Bulgarians, Lithuanians and Latvians live to 75 on average. In Poland, the average life expectancy is 77.8 years.
When it comes to annual health care spending per capita, Luxembourg has the highest expenditure among EU countries – EUR 6,023 per capita, while Romania has the lowest – EUR 816. Poland, in comparison, spends EUR 1,259, placing it ahead of only Croatia, Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania.
Poland is also the EU country with the lowest number of doctors per thousand inhabitants – only 2.3.
Other worrying news about Polish health care concerns early detection and treatment of cancer – the chances of surviving for five years after a cervical cancer diagnosis in Poland are the lowest in the EU, at 54.5 per cent.
(mol/pk)
Source: PAP