Occupational safety and health in Europe - state and trends 2023 
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work – EU-OSHA 77 
4.2.1 Statistical picture of mortality and morbidity  
The development of the overall health status and its two major indicators — mortality and 
morbidity — is of high relevance for OSH. First of all, these overall ‘Outcome indicators’ cover the whole 
population and can be an indicator for the health impact of working conditions. Secondly , the practical 
OSH management has to react to trends in health: this can be the general ageing of the workforce, 
changing morbidity patterns with impact on the overall ability to work and on the practical work 
organisation, or reactions t o trends li ke physical inactivity, overweight or the rapid growth of mental 
diseases.  
In public health, the probably most important and most used statistical indicator is ‘Life expectancy’. 
Life expectancy at EU level has increased steadily for many decades and reached 80.1 years in 2021.186 
It is 82.8 years for women in 2021 and was 81.5 years in 2006;  for men it increased from 75.1 years in 
2005 to 77.2 years in 2021. 187 It was highest in 2019 at  81.3 and fell by 1.2 years in 2021, mainly due 
to the COVID-19 pandemic.188 
The Eurostat life expectancy statistics clearly document serious differences between EU  Member 
States. Southern European countries have the highest life expectancy followed by northern and western 
countries. Below average we find those countries that  joined the EU in 2004, for example , eastern 
European and Baltic states, and Denmark and Germany.  
 
 
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