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    Healthy life expectancy

    This section presents information on healthy life expectancy, also named health expectancy. A health expectancy identifies the number of years a person can be expected to live in good health. Therefore, the emphasis is not exclusively on the length of life as in the case of life expectancy, but also on the quality of life. Health expectancies address the question, for instance, whether an increase in life expectancy is accompanied by an increase in the time lived in good health.

    As there are many ways to measure health, there are many health expectancies. Here we present data on the EU structural indicator Healthy Life Years (HLY), and on the Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy (HALE) indicator used by WHO.

    The EU structural indicator HLY is based on the measurement of health-related limitations in daily activities. It identifies the average number of years people can expect to live without health-related activity limitations. For more information see the remarks included under the tables and figures (source: EHEMU, Eurostat).

    The WHO indicator HALE is based on estimates of the prevalence of disability and on a weighting of the severity of these disabilities. It identifies the number of years people can expect to live without disability, using the aforementioned calculation method (source: WHO-HFA).

    Since the HALE and HLY calculations use different basic data, assumptions and methodologies, their outcomes are different. HALE calculations are considerably more complex and data-needy than HLY calculations.

      Status

        This EUphact is limited to data presentations of EC Health Indicators.

        It has been peer reviewed by one reviewer.

          Data presentation
          21 May 2008
          Healthy life expectancy
          Figures, underlying data and maps
          Healthy Life Years Trends in Healthy Life Years HALE

          Healthy Life Years

          Figures and Underlying Data

          TableHealthy Life Years at birth and at age 65 for men and women in the EU-27, Iceland and Norway, 2005

          TableHealthy Life Years as a percentage of Life Expectancy at birth and at age 65 for men and women in the EU-27, Iceland and Norway, 2005

          ChartHealthy Life Years at birth for men and women in selected countries, 2005 (interactive)

          ChartHealthy Life Years at age 65 for men and women in selected countries, 2005 (interactive)

          ChartHealthy Life Years as a percentage of Life Expectancy at birth for men and women in selected countries, 2005 (interactive)

          ChartHealthy Life Years as a percentage of Life Expectancy at age 65 for men and women in selected countries, 2005 (interactive)

          Maps

          MapTrend in healthy life expectancy (HLY) at birth and at age 65 for men and women in the EU-27, 1995-2005 (interactive- click on Indicators to select desired topic)

          Trends in Healthy Life Years

          Figures and Underlying Data

          TableTrend in Healthy LIfe Years at birth for men in Norway and the EU-27, 1995-2003

          TableTrend in Healthy LIfe Years at birth for women in Norway and the EU-27, 1995-2003

          ChartTrend in Healthy Life Years at birth for men in selected countries, 1995-2003 (interactive)

          ChartTrend in Healthy Life Years at birth for women in selected countries, 1995-2003 (interactive)

          ChartTrend in Healthy Life Years at age 65 for men in selected countries, 1995-2003 (interactive)

          ChartTrend in Healthy Life Years at age 65 for women in selected countries, 1995-2003 (interactive)

          ChartTrend in Healthy Life Years as a percentage of Life Expectancy at birth for men in selected countries, 1995-2003 (interactive)

          ChartTrend in Healthy Life Years as a percentage of Life Expectancy at birth for women in selected countries, 1995-2003 (interactive)

          Maps

          HALE

          Figures and Underlying Data

          TableHealth-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) for men, women and the total population in Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the EU-27, 2002

          ChartHealth-adjusted life expectancy (HALE) for men, women and the total population in Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the EU-27, 2002 (interactive)

          Maps
          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Healthy Life Years in absolute values at birth and at age 65 for men and women in the EU-271, Iceland and Norway, 2005 (source: Eurostat, 2008)

          At birth

          Age 65

          At birth

          Age 65

          male

          female

          male

          female

          male

          female

          male

          female

          Austria

          57.8

          59.6

          6.7

          6.6

          Latvia

          50.6

          53.1

          5.0

          5.4

          Belgium

          61.7

          61.9

          9.1

          9.5

          Lithuania

          51.2

          54.3

          5.1

          4.3

          Cyprus

          59.5

          57.9

          6.7

          4.8

          Luxembourg

          62.2

          62.1

          9.3

          9.2

          Czech Republic

          57.9

          59.9

          6.5

          6.9

          Malta

          68.5

          70.1

          10.5

          11.1

          Denmark

          68.4

          68.2

          13.1

          14.1

          Netherlands

          65.0

          63.1

          10.4

          10.9

          Estonia

          48.0

          52.2

          3.4

          3.4

          Norway

          65.5

          63.6

          12.2

          11.8

          Finland

          51.7

          52.4

          6.2

          6.5

          Poland

          61.0

          66.6

          8.3

          10.1

          France

          62.0

          64.3

          8.2

          9.4

          Portugal

          58.4

          56.7

          6.2

          5.1

          Germany

          55.0

          55.1

          6.5

          5.9

          Slovakia

          54.9

          56.4

          4.8

          5.3

          Greece

          65.7

          67.2

          9.5

          9.9

          Slovenia

          56.3

          59.9

          7.4

          8.5

          Hungary

          52.0

          53.9

          5.0

          5.0

          Spain

          63.2

          63.1

          9.6

          9.1

          Iceland

          66.9

          64.5

          12.2

          12.1

          Sweden

          64.2

          63.1

          10.5

          10.9

          Ireland

          62.9

          64.1

          9.1

          9.9

          United Kingdom

          63.2

          65.0

          10.3

          11.1

          Italy

          65.8

          67.0

          9.4

          9.7

          1 No data available for Bulgaria and Romania.

          Remarks

          The Healthy Life Years (HLY) indicator measures the number of remaining years that a person of a specific age is still expected to live in a healthy condition. In the case of the Eurostat HLY, a healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning/disability.

          HLY is calculated using detailsSullivan's method which combines information on mortality and morbidity. Information on mortality is taken from life tables. Information on morbidity is based on prevalence measures, i.e. the age specific proportion of the population in healthy and unhealthy conditions.

          The following question, taken from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (detailsEU-SILC), has been used for obtaining data on the prevalence of morbidiy for the year 2004 and onwards for EU-15 old Member States and from 2005 onwards for EU-10 new Member States:

          For at least the last six months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been:

          • severely limited;
          • limited but not severely;
          • not limited.

          Only the third category (i.e. not limited) is used to calculate HLY. Due to some differences in the question used in the Danish SILC, data for Denmark should be interpreted with caution.

          Trend data for the years 1995-2001 for EU-15 Member States (excl. Luxembourg) were obtained from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel). For trends see: Figures, underlying data and maps.

          For more information on HLY see:

          EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit)

          Also see:

          Eurostat Metadata Healthy Life Years Expectancy: Summary Methodology

          Eurostat Metadata Income and Living Conditions: Base Page

          Healthy Life Years in the core of the Lisbon Strategy (by DG SANCO)

          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Healthy Life Years as a percentage of Life Expectancy at birth and at age 65 for men and women in the EU-271, Iceland and Norway, 2005 (Eurostat, 2008)

          At birth

          Age 65

          At birth

          Age 65

          male

          female

          male

          female

          male

          female

          male

          female

          Austria

          75.4

          72.4

          39.5

          32.6

          Lithuania

          78.3

          70.2

          39.0

          24.4

          Belgium

          80.9

          75.7

          55.2

          46.8

          Luxembourg

          81.2

          75.5

          55.9

          45.0

          Cyprus

          77.5

          71.4

          39.8

          25.1

          Malta

          88.6

          86.2

          64.6

          57.2

          Czech Republic

          79.4

          75.5

          44.8

          38.8

          Netherlands

          84.1

          77.2

          63.1

          54.1

          Denmark

          90.1

          84.7

          81.3

          73.8

          Norway

          84.2

          76.9

          70.7

          56.5

          Estonia

          71.3

          66.7

          26.1

          19.1

          Poland

          86.2

          84.0

          58.3

          54.7

          Finland

          68.3

          63.5

          37.1

          31.2

          Portugal

          77.9

          69.8

          38.7

          26.3

          Germany

          71.7

          67.1

          38.2

          29.4

          Slovakia

          78.3

          72.2

          36.2

          31.3

          Greece

          85.5

          82.3

          55.5

          51.7

          Slovenia

          76.1

          74.0

          49.0

          44.4

          Hungary

          75.8

          69.9

          37.5

          29.0

          Spain

          82.1

          75.5

          55.7

          42.6

          Iceland

          84.1

          77.2

          66.3

          57.6

          Sweden

          81.8

          76.1

          59.9

          52.5

          Ireland

          81.4

          78.4

          54.1

          49.5

          United Kingdom

          82.0

          80.1

          60.7

          56.7

          Latvia

          77.4

          69.4

          40.3

          31.6

          1 No data available for Bulgaria, France, Italy and Romania.

          Remarks

          The Healthy Life Years (HLY) as a percentage of life expectancy is an important indicator about the quality of life. It makes it possible to assess whether an increase in life expectancy is accompanied by an increase in the number of years lived in good health.

          The Healthy Life Years indicator measures the number of remaining years that a person of a specific age is still expected to live in a healthy condition. In the case of the Eurostat HLY, a healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning/disability.

          HLY is calculated using detailsSullivan's method which combines information on mortality and morbidity. Information on mortality is taken from life tables. Information on morbidity is based on prevalence measures, i.e. the age specific proportion of the population in healthy and unhealthy conditions.

          The following question, taken from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (detailsEU-SILC), has been used for obtaining data on the prevalence of morbidiy for the year 2004 and onwards for EU-15 old Member States and from 2005 onwards for EU-10 new Member States:

          For at least the last six months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been:

          • severely limited;
          • limited but not severely;
          • not limited.

          Only the third category (i.e. not limited) is used to calculate HLY. Due to some differences in the question used in the Danish SILC, data for Denmark should be interpreted with caution.

          Trend data for the years 1995-2001 for EU-15 Member States (excl. Luxembourg) were obtained from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel). For trends see: Figures, underlying data and maps.

          For more information on HLY see:

          EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit)

          Also see:

          Eurostat Metadata Healthy Life Years Expectancy: Summary Methodology

          Eurostat Metadata Income and Living Conditions: Base Page

          Healthy Life Years in the core of the Lisbon Strategy (by DG SANCO)

          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Remarks

          The Healthy Life Years (HLY) indicator measures the number of remaining years that a person of a specific age is still expected to live in a healthy condition. In the case of the Eurostat HLY, a healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning/disability.

          HLY is calculated using detailsSullivan's method which combines information on mortality and morbidity. Information on mortality is taken from life tables. Information on morbidity is based on prevalence measures, i.e. the age specific proportion of the population in healthy and unhealthy conditions.

          The following question, taken from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (detailsEU-SILC), has been used for obtaining data on the prevalence of morbidiy for the year 2004 and onwards for EU-15 old Member States and from 2005 onwards for EU-10 new Member States:

          For at least the last six months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been:

          • severely limited;
          • limited but not severely;
          • not limited.

          Only the third category (i.e. not limited) is used to calculate HLY. Due to some differences in the question used in the Danish SILC, data for Denmark should be interpreted with caution.

          Trend data for the years 1995-2001 for EU-15 Member States (excl. Luxembourg) were obtained from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel). For trends see: Figures, underlying data and maps.

          For more information on HLY see:

          EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit)

          Also see:

          Eurostat Metadata Healthy Life Years Expectancy: Summary Methodology

          Eurostat Metadata Income and Living Conditions: Base Page

          Healthy Life Years in the core of the Lisbon Strategy (by DG SANCO)

          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Remarks

          The Healthy Life Years (HLY) indicator measures the number of remaining years that a person of a specific age is still expected to live in a healthy condition. In the case of the Eurostat HLY, a healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning/disability.

          HLY is calculated using detailsSullivan's method which combines information on mortality and morbidity. Information on mortality is taken from life tables. Information on morbidity is based on prevalence measures, i.e. the age specific proportion of the population in healthy and unhealthy conditions.

          The following question, taken from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (detailsEU-SILC), has been used for obtaining data on the prevalence of morbidiy for the year 2004 and onwards for EU-15 old Member States and from 2005 onwards for EU-10 new Member States:

          For at least the last six months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been:

          • severely limited;
          • limited but not severely;
          • not limited.

          Only the third category (i.e. not limited) is used to calculate HLY. Due to some differences in the question used in the Danish SILC, data for Denmark should be interpreted with caution.

          Trend data for the years 1995-2001 for EU-15 Member States (excl. Luxembourg) were obtained from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel). For trends see: Figures, underlying data and maps.

          For more information on HLY see:

          EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit)

          Also see:

          Eurostat Metadata Healthy Life Years Expectancy: Summary Methodology

          Eurostat Metadata Income and Living Conditions: Base Page

          Healthy Life Years in the core of the Lisbon Strategy (by DG SANCO)

          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Remarks

          The Healthy Life Years (HLY) as a percentage of life expectancy is an important indicator about the quality of life. It makes it possible to assess whether an increase in life expectancy is accompanied by an increase in the number of years lived in good health.

          The Healthy Life Years indicator measures the number of remaining years that a person of a specific age is still expected to live in a healthy condition. In the case of the Eurostat HLY, a healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning/disability.

          HLY is calculated using detailsSullivan's method which combines information on mortality and morbidity. Information on mortality is taken from life tables. Information on morbidity is based on prevalence measures, i.e. the age specific proportion of the population in healthy and unhealthy conditions.

          The following question, taken from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (detailsEU-SILC), has been used for obtaining data on the prevalence of morbidiy for the year 2004 and onwards for EU-15 old Member States and from 2005 onwards for EU-10 new Member States:

          For at least the last six months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been:

          • severely limited;
          • limited but not severely;
          • not limited.

          Only the third category (i.e. not limited) is used to calculate HLY. Due to some differences in the question used in the Danish SILC, data for Denmark should be interpreted with caution.

          Trend data for the years 1995-2001 for EU-15 Member States (excl. Luxembourg) were obtained from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel). For trends see: Figures, underlying data and maps.

          For more information on HLY see:

          EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit)

          Also see:

          Eurostat Metadata Healthy Life Years Expectancy: Summary Methodology

          Eurostat Metadata Income and Living Conditions: Base Page

          Healthy Life Years in the core of the Lisbon Strategy (by DG SANCO)

          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Remarks

          The Healthy Life Years (HLY) as a percentage of life expectancy is an important indicator about the quality of life. It makes it possible to assess whether an increase in life expectancy is accompanied by an increase in the number of years lived in good health.

          The Healthy Life Years indicator measures the number of remaining years that a person of a specific age is still expected to live in a healthy condition. In the case of the Eurostat HLY, a healthy condition is defined by the absence of limitations in functioning/disability.

          HLY is calculated using detailsSullivan's method which combines information on mortality and morbidity. Information on mortality is taken from life tables. Information on morbidity is based on prevalence measures, i.e. the age specific proportion of the population in healthy and unhealthy conditions.

          The following question, taken from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (detailsEU-SILC), has been used for obtaining data on the prevalence of morbidiy for the year 2004 and onwards for EU-15 old Member States and from 2005 onwards for EU-10 new Member States:

          For at least the last six months, to what extent have you been limited because of a health problem in activities people usually do? Would you say you have been:

          • severely limited;
          • limited but not severely;
          • not limited.

          Only the third category (i.e. not limited) is used to calculate HLY. Due to some differences in the question used in the Danish SILC, data for Denmark should be interpreted with caution.

          Trend data for the years 1995-2001 for EU-15 Member States (excl. Luxembourg) were obtained from the ECHP (European Community Household Panel). For trends see: Figures, underlying data and maps.

          For more information on HLY see:

          EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit)

          Also see:

          Eurostat Metadata Healthy Life Years Expectancy: Summary Methodology

          Eurostat Metadata Income and Living Conditions: Base Page

          Healthy Life Years in the core of the Lisbon Strategy (by DG SANCO)

          28 April 2008
          Healthy life expectancy

          Trend in Healthy Life Years in absolute values at birth for men in Norway and the EU-27, 1995-2003 (Eurostat, 2007)

          1995

          1996

          1997

          1998

          1999

          2000

          2001

          2002

          2003

          Austria

          60

          62.3

          62.2

          63.4

          63.6

          64.6

          64.2

          65.6e

          66.2e

          Belgium

          63.3

          64.1

          66.5

          63.3

          66

          65.7

          66.6

          66.9e

          67.4e

          Cyprus

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          68.4

          Czech Republic

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          -

          62.8p

          -

          Denmark

          61.6

          61.7

          61.6

          62.4

          62.5

          62.9

          62.2

          62.8e

          63.0e

          Finland

          -

          54.6

          55.5

          55.9

          55.8

          56.3

          56.7

          57.0e

          57.3e

          France

          60

          59.6

          60.2

          59.2

          60.1

          60.1

          60.5

          60.4e

          60.6e

          Germany

          60

          60.8

          61.9e

          62.1e

          62.3e

          63.2e

          64.1e

          64.4e

          65.0e

          Greece

          65.8

          66.9

          66.4

          66.5

          66.7