Latvian residents fall short in terms of healthy years of life.

In the European Union, the average number of healthy life years stands at 62.6 years, with women enjoying a longer lifespan free from significant health problems, at 62.8 years, compared to men, who average 62.4 years. Interestingly, this gender disparity in healthy life years is not reflected in the proportion of activity-limited years, as men spend a greater proportion of their lives free from such limitations.

One of the countries with the longest healthy life spans is Malta, where women can expect to live 70.3 years and men 70.1 years in good health. Malta also ranks at the top for healthy life years at birth for both genders. Following closely behind is Bulgaria, with women recording 68.9 years of healthy life expectancy, the second-highest in the EU.

However, not all countries in the EU fare as well. For instance, Latvia has the lowest number of healthy life years for men, at 53.0 years, while the Netherlands records a lower number for women (55.4 years). Denmark holds the distinction of having the shortest healthy life years for women (54.6 years) and the next-shortest overall (55.9 years).

Among the Baltic states, Lithuania boasts the longest average healthy life span of 60.3 years, while Finland's average is comparatively shorter at 57.9 years. Slovakia and Estonia, on the other hand, have a longer average healthy life span of 57.3 years and 59.3 years, respectively.

In 2022, Sweden took the lead in healthy life years without activity limitation at age 65, with women living about 14.3 years and men about 13.5 years in good health. Italy and Finland round out the top three for men, with 67.1 and 66.8 years, respectively. No country was explicitly named for having the shortest healthy life years in this category.

Slovenia ranks third for the highest number of healthy life years for women in the EU, with 68.5 years, followed by Denmark (57.1 years) and Latvia (54.2 years). As the data reveals, there is a significant variation in healthy life expectancy across European countries, highlighting the importance of continued efforts to improve public health and healthcare systems.