Estonian Human Development Report
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
Estonian Human Development Report - Eesti Koostöö Kogu
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2.2. Health of <strong>Estonian</strong> residents<br />
in international comparison<br />
According to the 2005 <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Development</strong> <strong>Report</strong>, Estonia<br />
occupied the 88 th position in terms of its population’s life<br />
expectancy at birth. Despite the different methods used for<br />
preparing the rankings, Estonia always stands out among<br />
other countries for the considerable “backwardness” of its<br />
health indicators compared to the general standard of living,<br />
level of education or other development indicators.<br />
For example, compared to its level of economic development<br />
(GDP per capita), Estonia probably has the worst<br />
health indicators in the world. Among countries more “prosperous”<br />
than us, only Trinidad and Tobago and Equatorial<br />
Guinea have a lower life expectancy than Estonia. Both<br />
countries are smaller than Estonia and their fast growth<br />
of national wealth is based primarily on the increase in oil<br />
and gas prices over the recent years, which has not brought<br />
about an equally fast improvement in the quality of life of<br />
the countries’ residents. A similar dissonance between economic<br />
success and health indicators is also characteristic of<br />
Latvia and Lithuania as well as all other countries that were<br />
formerly part of the Soviet Union.<br />
At more than 5,000 USD/PPP per capita, the unequivocal<br />
connection between economic wealth and average<br />
life expectancy disappears (CSDH 2008). With its GDP<br />
of 20,000 USD/PPP per capita, Estonia has far surpassed<br />
the level at which the mechanical increase in wealth would<br />
automatically improve the population’s life expectancy.<br />
Instead, the main influence stems from the choices made<br />
by individuals and the society (ibid).<br />
Estonia also has the largest difference between its<br />
ranking in the overall human development table (44 th in<br />
2005) and its ranking related to the average life expectancy<br />
(88 th in 2005) (see Table 2.2.1.).<br />
Table 2.2.1. presents a comparison between Estonia<br />
and ten countries that were placed immediately before or<br />
after us in the ranking according to the <strong>Human</strong> <strong>Development</strong><br />
<strong>Report</strong>, while also including Iceland, the top country<br />
according to the 2007 report and our closest role model,<br />
Finland. A comparison of life expectancy at birth reveals<br />
that during the past 30 years Estonia (along with Latvia<br />
and Lithuania) has experienced the slowest improvement<br />
in terms of health, whereas only countries that export oil<br />
are ahead of us with regard to wealth. What is more, in<br />
relation to Finland, Estonia’s life expectancy was at the<br />
same level during the 1970s. In addition, in 2000–2005,<br />
the likelihood of dying at a younger age than 60 was the<br />
highest in Estonia among the countries included in the<br />
comparison, even if we take into account countries with<br />
a considerably higher rate of infant mortality. Table 2.2.2.<br />
illustrates Estonia’s situation in terms of the main indicators<br />
of public health.<br />
Life expectancy at birth and the mortality rate for children<br />
under five or infants are the health indicators most<br />
frequently used in international comparisons. Since children’s<br />
mortality rates have quite a strong effect on life<br />
expectancy at birth, we have added life expectancy at 45<br />
years of age as an indicator in order to provide a more<br />
accurate description of the health situation of the working<br />
age and elderly population. The data provided in Table<br />
2.2.2. on the four indicators of life expectancy all show<br />
that the average state of health of the <strong>Estonian</strong> population<br />
is (a) always lower than that of the other new EU countries<br />
and (b) far below even the lowest of the EU-15 indicators.<br />
It is also obvious that Estonia’s relatively poor indicators<br />
are especially clearly pronounced in the case of men’s life<br />
expectancy (both at birth and at 45) – compare, for example,<br />
the 8.5-year difference for men and 3.6-year difference<br />
for women in life expectancy at birth between Estonia and<br />
the EU-15 country with the lowest indicators (see Fig-<br />
Table 2.2.1. Comparison of health indicators between Estonia and the countries close to it according to the<br />
<strong>Human</strong> <strong>Development</strong> <strong>Report</strong> ranking<br />
Country<br />
HDI 2007<br />
ranking<br />
Source: HDR 2007/2008<br />
Life expectancy<br />
(LE)<br />
index ranking<br />
HDI – LE<br />
index<br />
ranking<br />
Probability of<br />
dying before<br />
the age of 60<br />
Average life Average life<br />
GDP per capita<br />
expectancy at birth expectancy at birth<br />
(USD PPP)<br />
(1970–75)<br />
(2000–05)<br />
Iceland 1 3 -2 5.9 74.3 81.0 36510<br />
Finland 11 21 -10 9.4 70.7 78.4 32153<br />
United Arab<br />
Emirates<br />
39 27 12 2.1 62.2 77.8 25514<br />
Chile 40 28 12 3.5 63.4 77.9 12027<br />
Bahrain 41 45 -4 3.4 63.3 74.8 21482<br />
Slovakia 42 53 -11 14.6 70.0 73.8 15871<br />
Lithuania 43 68 -25 20.0 71.3 72.1 14494<br />
Estonia 44 88 -44 21.4 70.5 70.9 15478<br />
Latvia 45 75 -30 19.8 70.1 71.3 13646<br />
Uruguay 46 41 5 4.3 68.7 75.3 9962<br />
Croatia 47 44 3 12.7 69.6 74.9 13042<br />
Costa Rica 48 25 23 3.7 67.8 78.1 10180<br />
The Bahamas 49 71 -22 10.6 66.5 71.1 18380<br />
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