06-03-2026 - In 2025, 11.8% of persons aged 16 or over assessed their health status as “Bad or very bad”, a percentage slightly below the national average

In 2025

11.8% of persons aged 16 or over assessed their health status as “Bad or very bad”, a percentage slightly below the national average

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) today releases indicators relating to the health status of the population aged 16 years or over residing in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM). The results now presented were obtained from the Survey on Income and Living Conditions (ICOR) carried out in 2025.

The assessment of health status was made by persons aged 16 years or over, through a subjective evaluation of their overall health, taking into account physical, social and emotional components. Information was also collected on the existence of chronic diseases or long-standing health problems (i.e. lasting or expected to last at least six months), as well as on possible limitations in performing activities considered usual for most persons due to health problems, even if seasonal or intermittent.

In 2025, 48.1% of persons aged 16 or over assessed their health status as “Very good or good”, representing a decrease of 1.4 percentage points (pp) compared with the previous year. At the national level, the proportion of persons who considered their health status to be “Very good or good” stood at 52.7%, 0.9 pp lower than in 2024.

In the ARM, in 2025, 40.1% of the population aged 16 or over declared their health status as “Fair”, while 11.8% classified it as “Bad or very bad”. For the country as a whole, these percentages were 35.1% and 12.1%, respectively.

The prevalence of chronic diseases or long-standing health problems reached 47.5% in 2025, 3.2 pp higher than in the previous year. This value remained above the national average (44.1%), which itself recorded an increase of 1.8 pp compared with 2024.

Limitations in performing activities considered usual for most persons, due to health problems, were reported by 26.7% of the population aged 16 or over residing in the Region, 2.5 pp less than in 2024, representing the lowest value in the series starting in 2018.

At the national level, 23.8% of the surveyed population indicated the existence of such limitations, corresponding to a reduction of 2.7 pp compared with the previous year.