Health protection as an important element of sustainable development : example of European Union countries

Abstract

PURPOSE: The study attempted to compare the 27 countries of the European Union in terms of health protection. The output included 6 indicators describing the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3).

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In order to create the ranking of the EU countries, a taxonomic measure of development based on standardized sums was used.

FINDINGS: The best situation in terms of implementation of SDG3 was in the countries of Northern and Western Europe and also in Malta, with Sweden leading the ranking. The last in the ranking Latvia is characterized primarily by a low level of healthy life years at birth and a high level of indicators related to mortality.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The results of the studies presented in this paper can be useful for the diagnosis of the results achieved so far and for the revision of the health policy of the whole European Union as well as of the individual countries in the future.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The present article is a contribution to the most recent European and global scientific discussions on the combining of health protection and sustainable development.