A new study on honey bees in the European Union has revealed that the insects have lower mortality rates than feared, potentially contradicting an earlier report that some wild honey bees are at risk of extinction.

The survey, which was the first of its kind, examined 32,000 bee colonies throughout 17 EU member states to find the highest rate of bee deaths in northern Europe during the cold of winter, Reuters reported.

Winter mortality rates differed greatly depending on the region, ranging from 3.5 percent to 33.6 percent during 2012-13. In Belgium, the bee death rate during the winter was 33.6 percent, while the U.K. saw 29 percent, BBC News reported.

The study, which didn't analyze bumblebees and other wild bees or the effects of pesticide, named 10 percent as the acceptable threshold for bee colony mortality rate. Greece, Italy and Spain were among the countries that saw rates below the survey's threshold.

The EU seemed to fare better than the U.S., where around a third of bee colonies mysteriously perished last winter, a decline that could diminish honey supplies, Reuters reported.

According to the EpiloBee study, the diseases American foulbrood and European foulbrood were both low in the 17 EU member states. American foulbrood ranged from zero to 11.6 percent, while the European disease was only present in five member states and exceeded 2 percent in just one.

While foulbrood diseases were low, the mite-induced Varroosis disease was seen in almost every state.

The Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature said last week that nearly 25 percent of Europe's wild bee population could become extinct, citing climate change and loss of the bees' habitat as factors.

EU policymakers are working to protect bee health by reforming Common Agricultural Policy, aiming for measures to enforce crop diversification.  

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