Which EU regions have the highest and lowest hospital concentration?

The latest Eurostat data on hospitals in the EU is relatively good news: More than 83% of the bloc’s population lives near a medical facility.

In 124 administrations, all residents live within a 15-minute drive of the nearest hospital.

The highest concentration is in Germany, with 77%.

The country features 96 administrations where 100% of people live within a 15-minute drive of a hospital, mostly in the western and southern parts of the country.

Neighbouring Belgium and the Netherlands follow with six provinces each, trailed by France and Greece, with four. In Greece, these administrations are all in the Athens region.

Malta, Italy, Spain and Poland are next with two departments each.

Greece and Romania report lowest hospital density

However, some places are not that lucky. In 97 EU administrations, over 50% of residents need to take longer journeys just to access healthcare.

Most of these departments – 21 – are in Romania. 15 are in Greece, nine in both Croatia and Spain, eight in Poland, and six each in Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia. 

And in seven particularly underserved provinces, only 10% of patients live within a fifteen-minute drive of a hospital. Four of them are in Greece and three in Romania.

Greece’s healthcare access is particularly alarming, with just 46 doctors per 100,000 residents, making it the lowest rate in Europe.

The highest rates, according to Eurostat, are in the Netherlands (183), Austria (146), Cyprus (138) and France (137).

Video editor • Mert Can Yilmaz