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Data on the Healthy Life
Years in the European Union
An improvement in Healthy Life Years must be the main health goal
for the EU. At present, HLY expectancy at birth in the former EU-15
is, on average, 12 years shorter than overall life expectancy for
men and 17 years shorter for women.
The data calculated by Eurostat for the year 2003 shows clear
differences in life expectancies with no disability between Member
States with available data. It's expected that in 2003 men in the
EU-15 will live 84.9% of their life without disability. Men in
Italy (92.3%), Cyprus (88.8%), Belgium (88.8%), Poland (88.7%),
Czech Republic (87.1%) and Spain (86.9%) are those expecting to
spend more of their lives free of disability than people in other
Member States. Women could expect to live 81.3% of their lives free
of disability. In Italy (90.2%), Poland (87.4%), Cyprus (85.5%),
Austria (85.3%), Belgium (84.8%), Greece (84.1%), Spain (84.0%) and
Ireland (81.0%) the Healthy Life Years are beyond 80%.
Some suggest that life expectancy had reached its limits, but there
is no evidence for this. Female life expectancy has risen for 160
years at a rate of 3 months per year. In 1840 the longest survivors
were Swedish women who lived an average of 45 years, while now the
life expectancy of Spanish women is 83 years. Before 1950 most of
the gain was due to a reduction in premature deaths. In recent
decades it has been due to an improvement in the survival of people
over 65. The old notion that even under favourable circumstances
human beings have a characteristic lifespan is now being
challenged. The enduring belief that the ceiling is finally about
to be reached has repeatedly been disproved over the last 100
years. Misguided forecasts based on this belief have led to
inaccurate calculations of the financial, medical and social needs
of the elderly. If the current trend of life expectancy increasing
2.5 years per decade persists, the average lifespan may be 100
years by 2070.
The disability burden expressed in health-care expenditure (in kind
and in cash) and pensions is a major proportion of national
expenditure. Increasing age and unhealthy life years mean greater
medical needs especially with regard to pathologies such as
degenerative vascular diseases, cancer, and Alzheimer's and other
neurodegenerative diseases. The sick elderly are a greater
financial commitment than their healthy counterparts. If the
retirement age is to be raised, people must be physically able to
work and enjoy healthy life years.
The percentage of the population aged 65 and over, which started to
rise sharply from the latter part of the last century, is
continuing to rise. In 2002, 19% of the EU-25 population were aged
65 and over, and this is likely to rise to around 24% by
2025.
| Country |
Healthy life years at birth |
Life expectancy at birth |
Percentage of life expectancy
without disability |
Healthy life years at birth
females |
Life expectancy at birth |
Percentage of life expectancy
without disability |
| |
Males |
Females |
| EU-15 (2003) |
64.5 |
76.0 |
84.9 % |
66.0 |
81.2 |
81.3 % |
| BE (2003) |
67.4 |
75.9 |
88.8 % |
69.2 |
81.6 |
84.8 % |
| CZ (2002) |
62.8 |
72.1 |
87.1 % |
63.3 |
78.7 |
80.4 % |
| DK (2003) |
63.0 |
75.1 |
83.9 % |
60.9 |
79.9 |
76.2 % |
| DE (2003) |
65.0 |
75.7 |
85.9 % |
64.7 |
81.4 |
79.5 % |
| GR (2003) |
66.7 |
76.5 |
87.2 % |
68.4 |
81.3 |
84.1 % |
| ES (2003) |
66.8 |
76.9 |
86.9 % |
70.2 |
83.6 |
84.0 % |
| FR (2003) |
60.6 |
75.9 |
79.8 % |
63.9 |
82.9 |
77.1 % |
| IE (2003) |
63.4 |
75.8 |
83.6 % |
65.4 |
80.7 |
81.0 % |
| IT (2003) |
70.9 |
76.8 |
92.3 % |
74.4 |
82.5 |
90.2 % |
| CY (2003) |
68.4 |
77.0 |
88.8 % |
69.6 |
81.4 |
85.5 % |
| HU (2003) |
53.5 |
68.4 |
78.2 % |
57.8 |
76.7 |
75.4 % |
| MT (2002) |
65.1 |
76.7 |
84.9 % |
65.7 |
80.7 |
81.4 % |
| NL (2003) |
61.7 |
76.2 |
81.0 % |
58.8 |
80.9 |
72.7 % |
| AT (2003) |
66.2 |
75.9 |
87.2 % |
69.6 |
81.6 |
85.3 % |
| PL (2002) |
62.5 |
70.5 |
88.7 % |
68.9 |
78.8 |
87.4 % |
| PT (2003) |
59.8 |
74.2 |
80.6 % |
61.8 |
80.5 |
76.8 % |
| FI (2003) |
57.3 |
75.1 |
76.3 % |
56.5 |
81.8 |
69.1 % |
| SW (2003) |
62.5 |
77.9 |
80.2 % |
62.2 |
82.5 |
75.4 % |
| UK (2003) |
61.5 |
76.2 |
80.7 % |
60.9 |
80.7 |
75.5 % |
| NO (2003) |
66.3 |
77.1 |
86.0 % |
64.2 |
82.0 |
78.3 % |
Source: Eurostat On Line Database
More statistical data on Healthy Life Years is available on the
Eurostat website:
-
Data for females at birth
-
Data for males at birth
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