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With 55 percent of Europeans already using AI for their health, the question is no longer whether the future will be digital – it already is. AI is at our fingertips and established channels of care are changing. But for all the talk of disruption, Europeans are sending a remarkably consistent signal: technology is welcome, as long as a trusted person stays in the room. What’s emerging is not a handover from human to machine, but a new division of labour between the two. Who do you want to guide your health journey? Where do you want care to happen? And what do you expect from the system that is taking shape around you?
When you have a health enquiry, whose voice carries the most weight? Whose answer is most likely to put you at ease?
For most Europeans, the answer is clear: 77 percent say GPs and other healthcare providers shape their health-related decisions. In Spain and Portugal (90 percent each) and Belgium (88 percent), people are particularly perceptive to their doctor’s opinion. Pharmacists are the second most influential group for Europeans (57 percent), making the pharmacy counter one of the most important real-world health touchpoints we have – especially in Slovakia (74 percent), Portugal (71 percent), Belgium and Spain (68 percent each). Life partners (56 percent) and family members (55 percent) also play a significant role in health decisions.
In line with this proclivity for expert influence, Europeans show a clear preference for in-person health services over online alternatives.
In line with this proclivity for expert influence, Europeans show a clear preference for in-person health services over online alternatives.
The pharmacy of the future: more empowered, more accessible
What role do pharmacies play in your vision for the future of healthcare? While pharmacies remain an important point of contact, new digital health touchpoints are on the rise. The integration of both worlds will determine the future of health – and Europeans have specific requirements for them to retain their relevance in the changing health landscape. Most of them are about expanding the pharmacist’s role, not replacing it. Notice what’s at the top and what isn’t. The most-wanted innovations expand access and convenience, but almost all of them keep a pharmacist in the loop:
What do we really want from AI in healthcare?
Aside from the odd symptom check, have you thought about how AI will contribute to your health journey in the future? Europeans’ demands for the pharmacy of the future already hint at the role they expect AI to play in their healthcare: systemic issues, not relationship ones. Only 28 percent feel their health system currently supports digital tools well, so the appetite for what AI could improve is real. In a nutshell: Europeans want AI to fix what the system can’t – speed, access, cost – but delivered through trusted human channels rather than replacing them.
Doctors aren’t disappearing – their role is evolving
If AI takes on more of the system’s heavy lifting, what happens to doctors? As with pharmacists, most Europeans believe that AI’s efficiency will expand their capabilities rather than taking their place. By delegating routine tasks, doctors will be able to concentrate more on their patients, becoming their guides through an increasingly digital system. Only 20 percent expect healthcare professionals (HCPs) to lose relevance because of AI.
Instead, three new roles are taking shape:
The prospect of ageing shapes today’s choices
How do you feel about getting older? With AI driving efficiency, faster diagnoses and smarter prevention, its successes are not ends in themselves but means to a higher goal: more healthy years of life. So how do Europeans feel about the prospect of growing older, and how far are they willing to go to stay healthy along the way? If you have mixed feelings about the gnawing tooth of time, you are among the majority of Europeans: 54 percent say they are concerned about ageing.
Negative associations with old age are not evenly spread across the continent. The clearest divide is mental health: 72 percent of Europeans who rate their mental health as poor are concerned about getting older, compared to just 47 percent of those with good mental health. There is also a significant gender disparity: while just about one in two men (49 percent) anticipate old age with worry, this goes for 59 percent of women.
Potential illness (65 percent) and physical problems (64 percent) top the list, followed closely by the need for care (58 percent) and cognitive decline such as dementia (56 percent). Having to potentially deal with pain (47 percent), money problems (46 percent), and being a burden to family (45 percent) leaves many worried. Loneliness (41 percent) and possibly having to move into a care facility (31 percent) complete the picture. These are not abstract anxieties: they map almost perfectly onto the gaps in elderly care and mental-health support Europeans see in their systems today. Fear of ageing dominates in Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, France, Spain, Slovakia, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Germany.
But there are upsides to older age, with its appeal mainly rooted in time and freedom: 55 percent look forward to time for themselves, hobbies, and family, 53 percent to more free time, 42 percent to less stress, and 39 percent to retirement. Quieter, more reflective rewards also feature: more acceptance of what life is about (32 percent), financial security (31 percent), becoming wiser (28 percent), and being more comfortable in oneself (28 percent). Ageing, for many, is not just something to fear. It is something to grow into. Serbia, Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Uzbekistan, Austria and Romania are most likely to see the upsides of this process.
Are you willing to trade habits for years?
Is living as long as possible something you aspire to? Although fear of ageing prevails, three in four Europeans say growing as old as possible matters to them personally, with Slovakia (84 percent), Uzbekistan and Spain (83 percent each) driving this sentiment. But what are they willing to contribute?
82 percent of Europeans would consent to genetic testing if it was recommended by their doctor to anticipate and rule out future health risks. In terms of everyday habits, they are theoretically ready to restrict themselves for the delayed gratification of a longer life:
The hybrid future is already here
The future of health is not a choice between digital and human. It is the deliberate combination of both: in-person when it matters most, online for easier everyday access, complemented by AI for speed and scale – with trusted healthcare professionals at the core, helping Europeans live not just longer, but better. The people of Europe are clear about who should stay in the driver’s seat, and they draw clear boundaries around how care should be facilitated. At the same time, their message is not “no to innovation”, but “yes, but with purpose”. Europeans have made their choice.
The real question is: will systems, policymakers and innovators catch up in time and build a model that is not just more digital, but also more human where it counts?
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