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The Gender Equality Index 2021 focuses on gender inequalities in health. The thematic focus analyses the following aspects of health in the EU:

  • health status and mental health 
  • heath behaviour
  • access to health services
  • sexual and reproductive health
  • the COVID-19 pandemic.
  Spain EU
Health status and mental health
  Women Men Women Men
Healthy life years at age 65 (year, 2019) (i) 12 12 10 10
  Women Men Women Men
Healthy life years at 65 in percentage of the total life expectancy (%, 2019) (i) 52 63 48 55
  Women Men Women Men
Limitations in usual activities due to health problems at age 65 (%, 2019) (i) 47 36 51 e 44 e
  Women Men Women Men
Self-rated mental well-being (WHO-5 scale 0-100) (18+, %, 2016) (i)
18+ 65 70 62 66
With disabilities 47 51 50 53
Without disabilities 70 73 66 69
Health behaviour
  Women Men Women Men
Heavy episodic drinking at least once a month (15+, %, 2014) (i)
15+ 5 14 12 28
15-24 10 19 20 31
25-64 6 15 12 30
65-74 2 6 10 21
  Women Men Women Men
Physical activities outside working time (16+, %, 2017) (i)
16+ 44 51 42 e 47 e
16-24 52 69 52 e 62 e
25-64 46 49 43 e 45 e
65-74 47 54 43 e 46 e
Access to health services
  Women Men Women Men
Unmet needs for medical examination (16+, %, 2019) (i)
16+ 0 0 3 3
Lone parents 1 2 5 5
65+ 1 0 4 3
With disabilities 1 1 7 6
  Women Men Women Men
Difficulties in paying for unexpected medical expenses (+18, %, 2016) (i)
Primary care 23 22 19 17
Dental care 50 42 41 35
Mental hearlth services 39 39 39 33
Emergency healthcare 24 23 26 23
Other hospital or medical specialist services 28 28 32 29
Sexual and Reproductive health
  Women Men Women Men
Adolescent birth rate per 1.000 population (1) (15-19, number, 2019)* (i) 6 n/a 11 n/a
  Women Men Women Men
Unmet need for family planning (2) (15-49, %, 2020)** (i) 8 n/a 5 n/a
The COVID-19 pandemic
  Women Men Women Men
Excess mortality (3) (population, %, 2016-2019 vs 2020-2021)*** (i) 16 18 14 17

* Annual number of births to girls aged 15-19 years per 1,000 girls. EU: Unweighted average

** Proportion of women who want to stop or delay childbearing but are not using any method of contraception

*** Author's estimation, based on weekly average (2016-2019 vs 2020-2021). Excess mortality indicator is expressed as a percentage of additional deaths in a week (average of 2020-2021) compared to a baseline period (2016-2019).

Notes: b: break in time series, d: definition differs, e: estimated, u: low reliability

Source: Eurostat (Demography statistics, European Health Interview Survey, European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions), Eurofound (European Quality of Life Survey), United Nations. EU: 26 MSs, IE n/a. 2021 provisional data