The EU Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) sets out the objective of promoting good public health on equal conditions and improve protection against health threats.
| Headline indicator | Operational objectives and targets | Actions/explanatory variables |
Healthy life years and life expectancy at birth, by sex   | Health and health inequalities |
| Death rate due to chronic diseases, by sex | Healthy life years and life expectancy at age 65, by sex |
| Suicide death rate, total by age group |
| Suicide death rate, males by age group |
| Suicide death rate, females by age group |
| Self reported unmet need for medical examination or treatment, by income quintile |
| Determinants of health |
| Index of production of toxic chemicals, by toxicity class | Urban population exposure to air pollution by particulate matter |
| Urban population exposure to air pollution by ozone |
| Proportion of population living in households considering that they suffer from noise |
| Serious accidents at work |
Evaluation of changes in public health (2011 monitoring)
The developments in the public health theme present a rather inconsistent picture:
- People in the EU are living longer and the gap between men and women is narrowing;
- Fewer people die from chronic diseases or suicide. However, the financial crisis has taken its toll on the middle aged;
- Despite improvements, costs associated with medical treatment still pose an obstacle to the poorest;
- Despite a fall in production of toxic chemicals, no shift towards lower toxicity;
- Exposure to air pollution did not really improve in urban areas;
- Fewer people are annoyed by noise and the number of serious accidents at work has fallen.
More information on the evaluation of changes for the EU Sustainable Development Indicators (EU SDIs) on public health is available on Statistics Explained: Sustainable development - Public health.
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