Measuring the Installed Base: Nordic Health Dataset Catalogues Against HealthDCAT-AP Release 7

An analysis of Nordic national health dataset catalogues reveals a significant compliance gap with the European Health Data Space's mandated HealthDCAT-AP Release 7 metadata standards. Despite the European Commission's requirements for machine-readable descriptions of health datasets for secondary use, none of the 2,811 EU health-themed dataset descriptions across 11 Nordic catalogues fully satisfy the eight mandatory properties of HealthDCAT-AP Release 7. Several key mandatory properties are entirely absent in numerous national records.

Why it matters

This finding indicates a significant challenge in interoperability and data discoverability within the European Health Data Space framework. Non-compliance with mandated metadata standards can hinder the effective secondary use of health data, impacting research, policy-making, and the development of health solutions across member states.

Key insights

• The European Health Data Space (EHDS) requires member states to publish machine-readable descriptions of health datasets for secondary use.
• HealthDCAT-AP is the metadata profile specified by the European Commission for these descriptions.
• The analysis focused on 11 Nordic national catalogues, comprising 2,811 dataset descriptions with the EU health theme, as of August 25, 2026.
• None of the 2,811 descriptions fully satisfied all eight mandatory properties of HealthDCAT-AP Release 7.
• Three of the eight mandatory properties were entirely absent in the records from five different countries.

Source

arXiv — Computers and Society — https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.27720