Luxembourg among EU leaders for life expectancy and healthcare spending

Luxembourg’s life expectancy and health spending per capita remained well above the EU average in 2024, according to a report on the country’s healthcare system published on Tuesday.

The State of Health in the EU reports were prepared jointly by the OECD and the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, in co-operation with the European Commission.

Luxembourg performed strongly in several aspects when compared to other EU countries, with life expectancy in the country reaching 83.5 years in 2024, almost two years above the EU average. The Grand Duchy’s average life expectancy at birth came in fourth in the bloc, behind only Italy, Sweden and Spain.

“Luxembourg’s health spending per capita is among the highest in the EU,” the report said. However, the figure does not account for cross-border workers, who contribute to Luxembourg’s state coffers but are not counted as residents in the calculation. The report noted that 85% of all healthcare spending in 2023 was funded by public money, while the remainder “mostly consists of out of-pocket expenditure”, such as reimbursements not covered by the CNS.

However, there remain challenges in the healthcare system, the report warned, particularly due to “limited specialised services and long waiting times across various areas – including emergency, diagnostic and cancer care”.

Although several initiatives had been undertaken, such as expanding out-of-hours services which have “helped to reduce some delays”, the report’s authors said that “disparities and high demand persist.”

The number of doctors – four per 1,000 inhabitants – in Luxembourg remains marginally below the EU average, although in stark contrast the number of nurses, at just over 14 per 1,000 inhabitants, is almost double the bloc’s average.

The country “relies heavily on foreign-trained health workers”, the EU report noted, and although steps such as new training programmes and recruitment efforts aimed to redress this imbalance, “significant gaps remain between training capacity and future staffing needs.”

“The introduction of a three-year bachelor’s programme in medicine in 2020 aimed to expand medical training domestically, and its effects are expected to unfold in the coming years,” the report noted.

The EU report stated that one-third of all health spending in Luxembourg is “on outpatient care”, which results in “part from efforts to avoid unnecessary hospitalisations and to manage chronic conditions within community-based settings”.

In November, Health Minister Martine Deprez had said that doctors’ surgeries in Luxembourg could stay open later in the evenings, amid a debate over the alleged privatisation of the country’s healthcare system.

The Grand Duchy’s two largest trade unions had hit out at plans announced by the health ministry to allow private sector operators to manage certain outpatient care services.