On the occasion of World Health Day, which will be celebrated on April 7, Statistics Portugal is releasing a new edition of "Health Statistics", mainly with indicators for 2023. The following results stand out:

• In 2024, according to the Generalised Anxiety Disorder 2-item model (GAD-2), 32.0% of the population aged 16 and over had symptoms of generalised anxiety and 10.4% more severe levels of anxiety.

• The proportion of the population with limitations in carrying out usual activities due to health problems, which is an internationally recognized approximation to the concept of disability, reached 28.7% in 2024. 

• The "Healthy life years" indicator, which combines information of the life expectancy of the population and the incidence of limitations in carrying out usual activities due to health problems, reveals that, in 2022, healthy life expectancy at age 65 was 8.6 years for men and 7.3 years for women. In both cases, the figures are lower than the averages in the European Union (EU-27), of 8.9 for men and 9.2 years for women.

• In 2023, there were 62,132 doctors and 83,538 nurses in Portugal, respectively 2.9% more doctors and 2.1% more nurses than in 2022. The number of doctors per 1,000 inhabitants was highest in the region of Grande Lisboa region (8.2 doctors per 1,000 inhabitants) and lowest in the Oeste e Vale do Tejo region (2.5), while the number of nurses per 1,000 inhabitants was highest in the Região Autónoma da Madeira e in Região Autónoma dos Açores (10.3 and 10.0 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants, respectively) and lowest in the Oeste e Vale do Tejo region (5.0).

• After hospital activity was strongly affected by the pandemic period, in 2023 there continues to be a recovery in care provided in hospital settings. Medical appointments, operating room surgeries and diagnostic and therapeutic complementary acts recorded, in 2023, the maximum values of the series started in 1999. 

• Emergency room services and hospitalisations are dimensions of hospital activity that in 2023 remained below the activity recorded in 2019, despite the recovery seen since 2021.

• Public or public-private partnership hospitals continued to be the main providers of healthcare services in 2023, providing 85.1% of diagnostic and/or therapeutic complementary acts, 80.8% of emergency care attendances, 73.0% of hospitalisations and 71.6% of operating room surgeries. Public sector hospitals also provided the majority of medical appointments, but this is the component of activity in which private hospitals were able to reach the most expressive weight, accounting for 39.2% of the total.

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