DREM publishes “Health Statistics of the Autonomous Region of Madeira 2024” on its website

The Regional Directorate of Statistics of Madeira (DREM) releases today, on its official website, the report “Health Statistics of the Autonomous Region of Madeira 2024”, which compiles a set of statistical data for 2024 on health in the Autonomous Region of Madeira (ARM), already released during the current year and throughout 2025.

Although this publication refers to 2024, the hospitals chapter also provides more detailed information with the final results for 2023. The chapter on Primary Healthcare Units also includes data from 2021 onwards, as these were only made available last year.

The publication is organised into the following chapters: Main Indicators and Health Status, Healthcare Personnel, Hospitals, Primary Healthcare Units, Pharmacies, Mobile Pharmaceutical Units and Non-prescription Medicine Retail Outlets, Vaccination, Births, and Mortality by Causes of Death.

Key findings are highlighted below:

Health Status Indicators - Among persons aged 16 and over, there was, overall, an improvement in health status indicators compared with 2023:

• 49.5% reported their health as “Very good or Good”;
• 44.3% reported having a chronic illness or long-term health problem;
• 23.8% felt “Limited, but not severely” in carrying out activities, while 5.4% felt “Severely limited”.

Healthcare Personnel - Number of dentists (+4.7%), pharmacists (+4.4%), physicians (+3.3%) and nurses (+3.1%) increased:

• 1 420 physicians were registered with the Guild (+45 than in 2023), corresponding to 5.5 physicians per 1 000 inhabitants;
• 247 dentists were registered (+11; +4.7%);
• 2 730 nurses were working in the ARM, corresponding to 10.5 per 1 000 inhabitants;
• 286 pharmacists were practising, corresponding to 1.1 per 1 000 inhabitants.

Hospitals - Increase in the number of surgeries, outpatient consultations and emergency attendances, while hospitalisations decreased:

• There were 10 hospitals in the ARM: three public and seven private;
• A total of 2 097 inpatient beds were recorded (8.1 per 1 000 inhabitants);
• Hospital staff totalled 5 051 healthcare professionals, including 593 physicians and 1 528 nurses;
• 25 786 hospitalisations were recorded (-4.4% compared with 2023), 73.7% in public hospitals;
• 270 legally performed voluntary terminations of pregnancy were recorded (+22);
• Outpatient consultations increased by 5.0% to 392.7 thousand;
• 26 367 surgeries were performed, including 3 408 minor procedures;
• Emergency services recorded 162.4 thousand attendances (+2.6%);
• 12.2 thousand patients were treated in day hospital care (56.7 thousand treatment sessions);
• 7.0 million diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures were carried out, including 5.9 million laboratory tests.

Primary Healthcare Units (PHCU) - Increase in medical consultations, emergency attendances, home visits and therapeutic procedures:

• PHCU comprised 7 Health Centres and 47 functional units;
• All Health Centres provided home care services;
• A total of 1 875 healthcare professionals were employed (-0.7% compared with 2023), including 650 nurses and 262 physicians;
• Nursing consultations reached 310 818 (+1.7%);
• Medical consultations totalled 309 047 (+3.7%);
• Basic emergency services recorded 188 262 attendances (+7.4%);
• Home visits totalled 95 534 (+6.0%);
• 123.6 thousand therapeutic procedures were carried out.

Pharmacies - Number of pharmacies remained unchanged:

• 65 pharmacies and one mobile medicine depot (no change);
• One fewer point-of-sale for non-prescription medicines (22).

Vaccination - Vaccinations under the Regional Immunisation Plan increased by 12.0%:

• Vaccination coverage at age 1 remained above 95%;
• Extra-programme vaccinations saw a notable increase in the tetravalent HPV vaccine (+3 646 doses).

Births - Births to mothers resident in the ARM increased by 2.4%:

• 1 774 births were recorded (including 25 twin births);
• 99.0% occurred in hospital settings;
• The proportion of mothers aged 40 and over decreased.

Mortality by Causes of Death - Malignant neoplasms became, for the first time, the leading cause of death in the Region:

• Malignant neoplasms accounted for 677 deaths (average of 1.9 deaths per day);
• Diseases of the circulatory system were the second leading cause (642 deaths; -10.8%);
• Diseases of the respiratory system remained the third (386 deaths; -8.5%);
• The standardised mortality rate in the ARM (940.1 per 100 000 inhabitants) was higher than the national figure (863.9);
• A total of 8 189 potential years of life were lost, averaging 12.0 years per death under the age of 70.

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