OBJECTIVES: General population EQ-5D health surveys have been accumulated in the EuroQol Group’s archive over the past two decades. Using the database as a source of standardized measure of self-reported health, the objective was to estimate the level of health (EQ-5D population norms) and the distribution of health within populations along socio-demographic characteristics. METHODS: Analyses captured EQ-5D data on 163,838 individuals from 18 countries with nationally representative population surveys. Descriptive statistics were used to provide EQ-5D-3L population norms by age and gender categories for EQ VAS, EQ-5D index values, and for the 5 dimensions for each country. Odds ratios and the health concentration index methodology were used in the socio-demographic analysis of EQ-5D data.  RESULTS: The mean EQ-VAS rating varied from 71.1 to 83.7 and from 70.4 to 83.3 across countries without and with age standardization, respectively. Statistically significant inequalities existed in all samples (p<0.01) with the EQ-VAS based health concentration index varying from 0.090 to 0.157 across countries. Among the sociodemographic factors, age had generally the largest contributing share, while education also had a consistent role in explaining lower levels of self-reported health.   Among the 5 dimensions, usual activities and pain/discomfort were the highest contributors to overall inequalities in most countries. CONCLUSIONS: EQ-5D norms can be used as reference data to compare patients with specific conditions and to assess the burden of the disease in question. Inequalities in self-assessed health exist in all countries with different social and cultural backgrounds, deserving the attention of policy makers within each country.