The urgent need to invest in public healthcare services is highlighted by Eurostat figures showing more than a million people lost their lives in a single year due to ‘avoidable’ conditions.
In an article published today, the EU’s official statistics agency said:
- “In 2022, 1.1 million deaths among people under the age of 75 in the EU were considered avoidable by early treatment or prevention of diseases.”
- “That includes 386, 710 deaths from diseases that are treatable, which could have been avoided through high-quality healthcare.”
- “725,625 deaths from diseases that are preventable, which could have been avoided through effective public health interventions.”
The figures come at a time when Europe is facing a severe shortage of healthcare workers, with 1.2 million more doctors, nurses and midwives needed, according to the OECD.
Europe’s fiscal rules are putting member states under pressure to restrict funding for public services, and now governments are under pressure to shift resources to defence spending.
The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is calling for a reform of the EU’s fiscal rules and taxes on the wealthiest corporations and individuals to increase funding for public services.
ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said:
“It is shocking and unacceptable that more than a million people are losing their lives every year in the EU to avoidable conditions because our healthcare services are not properly funded.
“Despite the heroic daily efforts of healthcare workers regularly doing overtime to make-up for huge shortages, these figures show again that austerity kills.
“Politicians must stop putting arbitrary limits on spending before people’s lives. It could not be clearer that the EU’s fiscal rules are not allowing the most basic needs of its citizens to be met.
“It also shows there is absolutely no room to reallocate resources from social spending to defence. Our public services need more investment and the wealthiest should pay their fair share in the wake of record corporate profits and dividend payouts.”
Jan Willem Goudriaan, General Secretary of the European Public Service Union (EPSU), said:
"Austerity kills’ is not just a slogan — it’s the reality faced daily by patients and health professionals.
"Health workers are forced to work under impossible conditions: corridor care, long waiting times, closed beds, alarming staff shortages, burnout...
"Commercialisation and privatisation do not solve these issues. We urgently need more public funding to address this. This is why we call for the suspension of the Stability and Growth Pact for public services.
"The resources exist: even a modest 1% tax on extreme wealth would be sufficient to cover staff shortages in health."
