Factors of Health and Wellbeing in the European Union

In terms of the human development approach within the concept of sustainable development (SD), health is as an essential constituent of people's wellbeing. Health outcomes of countries are determined by the type of health system, the resources used within it, and additional factors. The relationships between healthcare resources and health status (outcome) indicators were analysed in the sample of 31 countries (the European Union (EU-27) plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (UK) by means of a cross-sectional regression analysis. The impacts of life expectancy at birth, healthy life years, and current health expenditure (resources) on the share of people with good or very good perceived health were evaluated. The first indicator reflects quantitative aspects and the second qualitative aspects of health status (health outcomes). The last one is a subjective indicator reflecting health status, and which also indicates wellbeing. Generally, a positive impact of both objective indicators on the subjective indicator reflecting health status was discovered. However, the impacts of the indicator reflecting healthcare resources, which is current healthcare expenditure as a percentage of GDP (CHE ratio) were not straightforward, or, in other words, they could have been indirect.