This chapter describes the health status of EU citizens, including trends in life expectancy, the main causes of death, health inequalities, the occurrence of communicable and chronic diseases, and mental health issues. Life expectancy now reaches 81 years in the EU as a whole, but the gains have slowed markedly in several Western European countries in recent years due to severe flu seasons and a slowdown in reductions in cardiovascular mortality. The COVID‑19 pandemic will result in a further stagnation or even reduction in life expectancy in 2020 in those countries that have been most impacted. The main causes of deaths across EU countries remain cardiovascular diseases (over 1 700 000 deaths in 2017) and cancers (1 200 000 deaths), which together account for over 60% of all deaths. Large inequalities in life expectancy persist by gender and socio-economic status. On average across EU countries, 30‑year‑old men with a low education level can expect to live about seven years less than those with a university degree or the equivalent. This education gap among women is smaller, at about three years. At age 65, men and women across EU countries could expect to live over 75% of their remaining years of life free of disability in 2018. Nearly 40% of people aged 65 and over report having at least two chronic conditions, although this does not necessarily impede them from leading a normal life. About 30% of people aged 65 and over report at least one limitation in (instrumental) activities of daily living that may require some long-term care assistance.