PUBLIC HEALTH · EUROSTAT 2023
Avoidable death
In 2023 Romania had the European Union's highest standardised treatable mortality rate. The indicator counts deaths under 75 that could be reduced through timely and effective healthcare.
The comparison describes statistically standardised populations. It does not identify individual deaths or estimate a raw number of lives saved.
Standardised treatable rate
199.7Romania
/
86.8EU average
gap: 112.9 points
standardised treatable deaths per 100,000 inhabitants under 75, 2023
1st of 27for treatable mortality
2.3×Romania's rate against the EU average
463.7199.7 treatable + 264.0 preventable, Romania 2023
Under 75the Eurostat indicator threshold
THE SAME MEASURING RULES
The comparison holds age constant
Eurostat recalculates each country as if it had the same age structure. The result supports comparisons between systems and years. It cannot be converted directly into a number of people in Romania.
Compare Romania with
Romania
199.7
EU average
86.8
Gap112.9
Ratio2.3×
standardised treatable deaths per 100,000 inhabitants under 75, 2023
Documented fact: rates. Own calculations: the difference and ratio between rates.
TWO MOMENTS FOR INTERVENTION
Before disease. After it begins.
Preventable mortality tracks interventions that reduce the onset of disease or injury. Treatable mortality tracks care that reduces the risk of death after onset. When evidence does not clearly favour one list, Eurostat divides deaths equally.
Preventableintervention before onset
Treatableintervention after onset
Choose the list for each cause. The classification follows the OECD-Eurostat convention, not an assessment of an individual case.
Colorectal cancer
Ischaemic heart disease
Stroke
Pneumonia
Transport accidents
ROMANIA · 2023
Five groups cover 69.9% of the treatable rate
These are the causes that actually make up Romania's rate, rather than the structure of the EU average. Ischaemic heart disease contributes the most, followed by pneumonia and cerebrovascular diseases.
Ischaemic heart diseaseI20-I25
41.88
PneumoniaJ12, J15-J18
32.04
Cerebrovascular diseasesI60-I69
25.81
Hypertensive diseasesI10-I13, I15
21.09
Colorectal cancerC18-C21
18.82
standardised rate per 100,000. Source: Eurostat, hlth_cd_apr, Romania, total sex, treatable mortality, RT unit, 2023. ICD codes are shown for audit. 69.9%.
HEALTH-SYSTEM CONTEXT
Romania spends less. Patients pay more.
The 2025 country profile describes the conditions in which the health system operates. These data are consistent with a high treatable mortality rate, but they do not measure how much of the EU gap each factor causes.
health spending per person in 2023, adjusted for purchasing power; EU average: EUR 3,832.
of spending is paid directly by patients; EU average: 16%. Almost 60% of out-of-pocket payments go to medicines.
of people who needed care in 2024 reported unmet needs because of cost, distance or waiting time.
is mostly opportunistic. The only nationwide population programme is for cervical cancer and faces systemic deficiencies.
THREE OBSERVATIONS, NOT A FORECAST
The rate fell. Romania remains far above the EU.
Romania's treatable mortality rate fell from 235 in 2020 to 215.0 in 2022 and 199.7 in 2023. The EU average fell from 92 to 89.7 and 86.8. The pandemic affected 2020, and this short series does not support an estimated convergence date.
FOUR QUESTIONS FOR THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH
What is Romania's target?
The indicator becomes useful when institutions connect it to verifiable decisions.
- What treatable-mortality target will the Ministry of Health adopt, and for which year?
- How many eligible people receive invitations for colorectal and breast screening, and how many complete screening?
- What share of heart-attack and stroke patients receive treatment within the relevant clinical window?
- Where is each cause's annual contribution to Romania's rate published?
METHOD AND LIMITS
What the indicator says, and where it stops
The OECD-Eurostat list uses ICD-10 coded causes of death and an age threshold of 75. Standardised rates remove differences in age structure between countries. The concept of avoidability applies statistically to groups of causes under interventions considered optimal; it does not establish that an individual death could have been prevented.
- Cause-of-death coding may differ between countries.
- The indicator describes outcomes associated with healthcare and public health; it cannot isolate the institutional causes of the gap by itself.
- Standardised rates cannot be multiplied by the population to obtain national totals.
SOURCES
Where the figures come from
- Eurostat, Preventable and treatable mortality statisticsMarch 2026, 2023 data
- Eurostat, 1 million deaths from avoidable conditions in 202326 March 2026; country totals and rates
- Eurostat, hlth_cd_aprdataset: treatable and preventable mortality by cause and sex
- OECD / European Observatory, Country Health Profile 2025: Romaniaspending, access and screening
- OECD / Eurostat, List of avoidable mortality causesNovember 2019 revision
Values are published facts. Differences, ratios and the top-five share are calculations on those values. Health-system context is a descriptive association, not a causal estimate.