WHO/Europe Report: Most EU Countries Now Use AI in Health Care, With 74% Deploying It in Diagnostics

The World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe has released the first-ever cross-country snapshot of AI in health care across all 27 European Union member states. The report finds that the majority of EU countries are already deploying AI tools in clinical settings, with 74% using it in diagnostics and 63% running chatbots that support patient engagement.

The picture is one of cautious, broad adoption. All 27 governments cited improving patient care as the primary driver of AI deployment, while 81% are already engaging health professionals, technical experts and other stakeholders in AI governance. That stakeholder engagement is higher than across the broader WHO European Region. The report flags a gap, however: patient associations and the general public are still rarely consulted, despite their stake in how these tools shape care.

WHO/Europe encourages governments to focus next on three priorities: strengthening workforce readiness through AI literacy in pre-service and continuing education; building inclusive, transparent governance that brings patients and the public into AI policy; and establishing centres of excellence to test technologies, share best practices and develop common standards for safe, equitable deployment. The report was produced as part of a multi-year funding agreement with the European Commission.

Combined with peer-reviewed evidence that reasoning models can match or exceed clinicians on hard diagnostic cases, the WHO/Europe snapshot suggests Europe is taking a measured, governance-first approach: deploy widely, study carefully and keep humans — patients included — in the loop. For 446 million Europeans relying on EU health systems, that careful posture is encouraging news at a moment when AI is moving fast everywhere.