(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 29 GIU - In 2015, out of 1.7 million persons aged less than 75 who died in the European Union, more than 570,000 (33.1% of total deaths) could be considered "as untimely" and theoretically avoidable, Eurostat said today. In other terms, according to the EU statistical office, one death out of three in the EU could have been avoided if there had been timely and effective health care in place, using the current medical knowledge and technology.

According to Eurostat, the highest shares of potentially avoidable deaths in the European Union were registered in several Central- and Eastern European member countries. At the top, Romania, with 48.6%, followed by Latvia (47.5%), Lithuania (47.0%) and Slovakia (44.2%). However, another Eastern EU country, Poland, with 29.9%, entered among the countries with the lowest share of potentially avoidable deaths, together with France (23.6%), in Belgium (26.0%), Denmark (26.6%), and the Netherlands (28.1%). (ANSA).