The report, prepared by the ATLANTES Global Observatory and the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC), offers a comprehensive assessment of palliative care access, quality, and needs in 56 European countries.
The ATLANTES Global Observatory, together with the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC), has recently released the 2025 edition of the Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe, a document that provides a clear and comprehensive assessment of the status of these services across 56 European countries, covering a total population of approximately 750 million people.
The Atlas presents revealing data on the urgent need for palliative care across Europe. It is estimated that every year, more than 4.28 million people experience serious health-related suffering, of which approximately 66,000 are children. Despite this reality, only 17 European countries have an integrated offer of specialized palliative care services, achieving an average of 0.96 services per 100,000 inhabitants.
It also highlights that the average consumption of opioids (excluding methadone) in Europe is 4,959 daily doses per million inhabitants, a figure significantly higher than the global average of 238 doses. This disparity reflects both the pressing need and the unequal access to these essential medications required for adequate pain and symptom management in the final stages of life.
The document points out that roughly 76% of European countries have taken an important step by integrating palliative care into primary healthcare, bringing these services closer to communities and local settings. However, only 12 of these nations have a state entity responsible for ensuring that palliative care services reach the entire population.
The training of professionals remains a cornerstone of ensuring quality care. According to the Atlas, only 15 European countries require palliative care training as a mandatory part of medical education, while 21 recognize it as a medical specialty or subspecialty. This underscores that there is still a long way to go before making palliative care an integral part of the standard preparation for physicians and other healthcare professionals.
The 2025 edition of the Atlas arrives at a critical moment for assessing, making visible, and inspiring improvements in the provision of palliative care across Europe. The report emphasizes the urgent need to ensure that every person living with serious illness receives care based on equity, quality, and comprehensiveness, where the priority is to alleviate suffering and guarantee a life and death with dignity for all.
If you want to learn more and access the full report in PDF format, you can do so here: https://www.bioeticaweb.com/atlas-de-cuidados-paliativos-en-europa-2025
More information:
Centro Anáhuac de Desarrollo Estratégico en Bioética (CADEBI)
Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Guerrero
alejandro.sanchezg@anahuac.mx
