Driving times to the nearest hospitals and schools in rural Europe: insights from Eurostat

Geographical proximity to healthcare and education services, or the possibility to travel to where they are available, is important for their accessibility. For rural areas, this often presents a problem. 

In too many of Europe’s rural areas, the coverage of education and healthcare services is either too limited or is deteriorating. This decreases these areas’ attractiveness and can trigger a growing and justified sentiment of discontent, with local populations feeling ‘left behind’ by public and political institutions. 

Access to basic services, while being under national competence, is a priority for the EU targeted by several policies and initiatives, such as cohesion policy, the common agricultural policy and the long-term vision for rural areas. Eurostat has been collecting information on healthcare and education services since 2020. This supports policy development and helps measure the impact of activities and inform European citizens about the issue.

Mapping health and education services across Europe

Eurostat has released its latest dataset on healthcare and education services in Europe. This combines information from existing registries maintained by public authorities across EU countries, such as health and education ministries, agencies and other institutions. 

The data collected include key characteristics of services such as the name, type, capacity, address and location. This information is used to map the distribution of these services across European territories and to measure and compare the situation in different European countries.

In addition, accessibility of health and education services by road transport is assessed using geographical information system technologies and network analysis. This results in a detailed map showing driving times to the nearest services all over Europe, at a very fine resolution (100 metres). Combining census data with this dataset helps identify local communities with low or limited access via road transport to healthcare and primary education services.

Information is available for 2020 and 2023, which allows the evolving situation to be measured. A new version is also planned which will include 2026 as a reference year. Most European countries are covered, with missing countries progressively added when data becomes available. 

The accessibility analysis is a basis for computing other statistical indicators at local, regional and national levels. For example, it can show the share of people aged over 65 who live more than 45 minutes from a healthcare service. This data may be used to better target European policies for rural areas.

Enhancements planned to the dataset

Potential improvements to the dataset are foreseen, such as walking times to schools in addition to driving times. Travel times to health and education services by public transport would also be relevant. However, this is challenging since it requires reliable data on public transport (stops and schedules) all over Europe. Other types of services may also be considered, beyond healthcare and education. 

In addition, Eurostat will publish a similar accessibility analysis in mid-2026 for electric vehicle charging points. This will assess the electrification of the road transport network, how it addresses people’s needs, and which citizens and communities have been left behind in this area.

Find out more about Eurostat’s datasets on basic services and geographic accessibility and explore its interactive map on accessibility to healthcare and education services. 

Discover the latest Rural Pact resources on health, education and access to services.

Authors: Julien Gaffuri and Christophe Bredel, Eurostat

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