In 2021, these hospitals provided approximately 4.6 million beds across Europe. The bed density varied greatly from one country to another. In 2020, the number of hospital beds available per 1,000 people was over ten beds in Belarus and over eight in Ukraine or Germany. On the other hand, Sweden or Denmark had less than 2.5 beds available per 1,000 people. However, Germany and Austria were the European countries with the highest rates of intensive care beds per population. Furthermore, in 2018, Germany had by far the most psychiatric care beds in Europe.
The average length of a stay in a hospital in the E.U. (27) stood at a little over a week in 2018. Nonetheless, the average length of stay reached over ten days in Serbia and as low as five days in the Netherlands or Denmark. Bulgaria recorded the highest number of hospital in-patient discharges per 100,000 inhabitants, with just under 35,000 discharges in 2019. Bulgaria notably registered the highest rate of discharges following a circulatory system disease and discharges following a respiratory system disease.
