Editing European Union (section)

===Health===
{{Main|Healthcare in Europe}}

{{See also|European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control|European Chemicals Agency|European Medicines Agency|European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction}}

Article 35 of the [[Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union]] affirms that "A high level of human health protection shall be ensured in the definition and implementation of all Union policies and activities". The [[European Commission]]'s [[Directorate-General for Health and Consumers (European Commission)|Directorate-General for Health and Consumers]] seeks to align national laws on the protection of people's health, on the consumers' rights, on the safety of food and other products.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our vision |url=http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/about_us/our_vision_en.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112200650/http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/about_us/our_vision_en.htm |archive-date=12 November 2010 |access-date=26 November 2010 |website=Directorate General for Health & Consumers |publisher=Europa }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Directorate General for Health & Consumers |url=http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101111154145/http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_consumer/index_en.htm |archive-date=11 November 2010 |access-date=26 November 2010 |website=Europa }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 November 2010 |title=Health-EU Portal |url=http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/index_en.htm |access-date=26 November 2010 |website=Europa |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130120219/http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/index_en.htm |archive-date= 30 November 2010 }}</ref>

All EU and many other European countries offer their citizens a free [[European Health Insurance Card]] which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergency medical treatment insurance when visiting other participating European countries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=29 April 2010 |title=info about health care and EHIC |url=http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/Healthcareabroad/pages/Healthcareabroad.aspx |access-date=26 November 2010 |publisher=Nhs.uk |archive-date=25 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125191700/http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/Healthcareabroad/pages/Healthcareabroad.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> A directive on cross-border healthcare aims at promoting co-operation on health care between member states and facilitating access to safe and high-quality cross-border healthcare for European patients.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Consilium.europa.eu |url=http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/lsa/119514.pdf |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Eur-lex.europa.eu |url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:088:0045:0065:EN:PDF |access-date=3 June 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 May 2011 |title=NHSconfed.org |url=http://www.nhsconfed.org/Publications/Factsheets/Pages/Cross-border-healthcare-commissioners.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728184655/http://www.nhsconfed.org/Publications/Factsheets/Pages/Cross-border-healthcare-commissioners.aspx |archive-date=28 July 2013 |access-date=3 June 2013 |publisher=NHSconfed.org}}</ref>

The life expectancy in the EU was 80.1 year at birth in 2021, among the highest in the world and around nine years higher than the world average.<ref>[https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-key-figures/w/ks-ex-23-001 Eurostat, ''Key figures on the EU in the world'', 2023 edition, p. 25]</ref> In general, life expectancy is lower in [[Eastern Europe]] than in [[Western Europe]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=In Europe, life expectancy is lower in the east |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2018/09/24/in-europe-life-expectancy-is-lower-in-the-east}}</ref> In 2018, the EU region with the highest life expectancy was [[Comunidad de Madrid|Madrid]], Spain at 85.2 years, followed by the Spanish regions of [[La Rioja (Spain)|La Rioja]] and [[Castilla y León]] both at 84.3 years, [[Trentino]] in Italy at 84.3 years and [[Île-de-France]] in France at 84.2 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Life expectancy: Are you in one of the top 5 regions? |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/DDN-20181026-1 |website=ec.europa.eu}}</ref>