Over 65% of Bulgarians Feel Healthy

65.7% of Bulgarians over the age of 16 describe their health as good, according to Eurostat data for 2024. This share is close to the EU average (68.5%) and is higher compared to Serbia (64.2%) and Turkey (63.8%).

At the same time, Romania (75.2%) and Greece (78.3%) report significantly higher levels of subjective health, while Ireland and Malta are the EU leaders at 79.2%. At the opposite end are Latvia (49.1%) and Lithuania (48.9%), where less than half of the population feels healthy.

Bulgaria also records a relatively high healthy life expectancy—66.7 years, which is about 4 years above the EU average. Women in our country live an average of 71 years in good health, ranking them second in the EU after women in Malta, while for men, the figure is 64.5 years.

Despite the positive data on self-rated health, the country remains among those with the lowest public healthcare expenditure—approximately €990 per person in 2022, far below the European average. Experts warn that underfunding limits access to quality health services and could worsen actual health indicators.

Analysts note that the subjective perception of health does not always reflect the objective state of the population, especially against the backdrop of the high share of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion—30.3% in 2024. Health institutions emphasize the need for more investment and stronger prevention to improve the overall health of Bulgarians.