DEVELOPMENT
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girls, i.e. during this time period, the life expectancy<br />
in Estonia increased for both men and women based<br />
purely on the number of disability-free years left to<br />
live, which is a very gratifying result. Of course, actually,<br />
the number of disability-free years is not evenly<br />
divided among the entire population, because, unfortunately,<br />
some of us are sick our entire lives and others<br />
are healthy until they die.<br />
Most of the increases in life expectancy in Estonia,<br />
as well as in the rest of the world, are achieved thanks<br />
to the reduction of deaths among children and young<br />
people, and not thanks to the better management of illnesses<br />
later in life. Therefore, the difference between life<br />
expectancy and the years of disability-free life are constantly<br />
increasing, and global experience shows that an<br />
increase in average life expectancy beyond 70-75 years<br />
means that the longer life will be almost totally spent with<br />
health-related limitations. According to a Global Burden<br />
Disease Study (Salomon 2012), in the case of 50-year-olds,<br />
for every year that is added to life expectancy, only 0.6<br />
years are free of disease.<br />
Since men’s life expectancy is shorter than<br />
women’s, the length of their disability-free life is also<br />
shorter. For instance, a boy that is born in Estonia in<br />
2010 can expect to live 54.1 years, or 77% of his life<br />
(70.6 years), disability-free; and a girl born in the same<br />
year, 58.2 years, or 72% of her life (80.8 years) without<br />
health-related limitations. In 2010, the life expectancy<br />
of 65-year-old Estonian women (19.4 years) was significantly<br />
longer than that of similarly aged men (14.2<br />
years), although the number of disability-free years was<br />
the same – 5.5 and 5.3 years, respectively. However,<br />
paradoxically, if at birth the life expectancy of Estonian<br />
women is 10 years longer, then the number of<br />
disability-free years left to live is only 4 years more<br />
than that of Estonian men, i.e. the majority of women’s<br />
additional life expectancy will be accompanied by<br />
health-related limitations.<br />
In comparison to our neighbouring countries<br />
(Figures 1.4.1 and 1.4.2), the increase in the number of<br />
years that Estonian women and men live disability-free<br />
has outpaced Latvia and Lithuania, and has arrived at<br />
the same level as Finland, although it lags significantly<br />
behind Sweden. In Sweden, the disability-free life expectancy<br />
of men is 71 years, which is longer than the life<br />
expectancy of men in the Baltic states.<br />
Although, in the ranking of disability-free life<br />
expectancy in the European Union, the Baltic states<br />
continue to be in last place, the improvements that<br />
have occurred in the last few years demonstrate that<br />
it is possible to increase disability-free life expectancy.<br />
This can be achieved if healthy lifestyles are purposefully<br />
promoted among the population, and heart disease<br />
and injuries can be prevented. This is what has<br />
ensured the progress to day, since these are also the<br />
areas where we lag behind the most, as compared to<br />
the rest of Europe.<br />
An explanation has yet to be found for why the<br />
number of their disability-free years has formed the basis<br />
for the increased life spans of both women and men<br />
in Sweden. Of course, it must be considered that the<br />
assessment of one’s health and health-related problems<br />
Figure 1.4.1<br />
Remaining years of disability-free life, WOMEN<br />
Figure 1.4.2<br />
Remaining years of disability-free life, MEN<br />
EU27 average Sweden<br />
Finland Latvia<br />
Lithuania<br />
Estonia<br />
EU27 average Sweden<br />
Finland Latvia<br />
Lithuania<br />
Estonia<br />
70<br />
70<br />
65<br />
65<br />
60<br />
60<br />
55<br />
55<br />
50<br />
50<br />
Years<br />
45<br />
Years<br />
45<br />
2004 2006 2008 2010<br />
2004 2006 2008 2010<br />
42<br />
Estonian Human Development Report 2012/2013