Accessibility of hospitals in Europe

Being able to arrive timely at a hospital is an essential aspect of access to healthcare. This remains key under the changing climate, given the increasing pressures on people’s health from heatwaves, extreme weather events or infectious diseases. The map viewer below, based on Eurostat data, presents the average travel time to the nearest hospital per NUTS3 region.

For further healthcare statistics at the regional level, see here.

Key messages

• In 2020, an estimated 82.5% of the EU population was living within 15 minutes driving time of their nearest hospital.
• In almost two third of the NUTS3 regions considered, the average travel time to the nearest hospital was below 15 minutes (710 out of 1142 NUTS3 regions).
• In highly urbanized Western Europe, the average travel time to the nearest hospital is mostly limited to below 20 minutes. In less densely populated areas in Southern, Eastern and Northern Europe, the average time to reach the hospital can take over 40 minutes (20 NUTS3 regions).

The dataset has been prepared and made available under the EEA – European Commission (RTD) Service Level Agreement on “Mainstreaming GEOSS Data Sharing and Management Principles in support of Europe’s Environment”. See the metadata here.