The Atlas of Palliative Care in Europe 2025, which analyses 56 countries, was presented at the World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC), whose recommendation is a rate of at least two such services per 100,000 inhabitants.

According to the study, there are more than 7,000 specialist palliative care services in 52 European countries, which represents almost 10% more than in 2019, although with disparities between countries.

Austria tops the list with 3.68 services per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Lithuania with 2.51, Switzerland with 2.10 and Sweden with 1.90, with the lowest position being occupied by Kosovo.

The total number of specialised PC services or teams in the country is 150, but despite this “relatively comfortable place in the ranking”, the Portuguese Association of Palliative Care (APCP) says, in a statement, that “the scarcity of teams continues to be a pressing problem, with resources below the minimum required to ensure quality and timely care”.

The Association also considers that “the distribution of specialized services is asymmetrical, with a marked deficit in several parts of the country”.

The study, by the Global Observatory of Palliative Care Atlantes, the University of Navarra (Spain) and the EAPC, also mentions the gaps that exist in some areas of Portugal, which is why the provision of services in general is classified as level 3 (the second highest).

As for specialized PC services or teams for children in Portugal (12), the fact that they only exist in some geographic areas explains the classification of 2 (progressing).

These services exist in 41 countries, an increase in relation to the 38 cited in the 2019 study.

Regarding the different types of services, those provided in Portuguese hospitals are considered level 4 (the highest), home care is 3 and those provided in specialized centers or homes have the lowest classification (level 1).

According to the Atlas, in six of the eight medical schools in Portugal, teaching palliative care is mandatory, the same being true in 16 of the 40 nursing schools.

In Europe, more than half of the countries do not teach PC to future doctors and nurses, and in only 15 countries is PC included in the curricula of all medical schools, such as Austria, Finland, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Access to essential pain relief medicines is “deeply unequal”, as they are widely used in Western Europe but up to ten times less so in Central and Eastern Europe.