Health at a Glance: Europe 2016 State of Health in the EU Cycle (eBook)

European Union, Oecd (Autoren)

eBook Download: EPUB

2016 | 1. Auflage
100 Seiten
OECD Publishing (Verlag)
978-92-64-26564-6 (ISBN)

Infos

This fourth edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents key indicators of health and health systems in the 28 EU countries, 5 candidate countries to the EU and 3 EFTA countries. This 2016 edition contains two main new features: two thematic chapters analyse the links between population health and labour market outcomes, and the important challenge of strengthening primary care systems in European countries; and a new chapter on the resilience, efficiency and sustainability of health systems in Europe, in order to align the content of this publication more closely with the 2014 European Commission Communication on effective, accessible and resilient health systems. This publication is the result of a renewed collaboration between the OECD and the European Commission under the broader "State of Health in the EU" initiative, designed to support EU member states in their evidence-based policy making.

 

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This fourth edition of Health at a Glance: Europe presents key indicators of health and health systems in the 28 EU countries, 5 candidate countries to the EU and 3 EFTA countries. This 2016 edition contains two main new features: two thematic chapters analyse the links between population health and labour market outcomes, and the important challenge of strengthening primary care systems in European countries; and a new chapter on the resilience, efficiency and sustainability of health systems in Europe, in order to align the content of this publication more closely with the 2014 European Commission Communication on effective, accessible and resilient health systems. This publication is the result of a renewed collaboration between the OECD and the European Commission under the broader "e;State of Health in the EU"e; initiative, designed to support EU member states in their evidence-based policy making.

Textauszug

Chapter 1. The labour market impacts of ill-health

This chapter looks at the labour market impacts of chronic diseases and related behavioural risk factors, including obesity, smoking, and harmful alcohol consumption. Chronic diseases lead to the premature death of more than 550 000 people aged 25 to 64 each year across EU countries, resulting in the loss of some 3.4 million potential productive life years. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, respiratory problems, diabetes, and serious mental health problems also have important labour market impacts for people living with these conditions: reduced employment, earlier retirement, and lower income. Using the latest data from the SHARE survey (Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe), this chapter shows that the employment rate of people aged 50-59 who have one or more chronic diseases is lower than that of people who do not suffer from any disease. The same is true for people who are obese, smokers, or heavy alcohol drinkers. The labour market impacts of mental health problems such as depression are also large: across European countries, people aged 50-59 suffering from severe depression are more than two times more likely to leave the labour market early. The burden of ill-health on social benefit expenditures is huge: 1.7% of GDP is spent on disability and paid sick leave each year on average in EU countries, more than what is spent on unemployment benefits. Greater efforts are needed to prevent chronic diseases among the working-age population, and better integration is needed between health and labour market policies to reduce the detrimental labour market impacts of ill-health, and thus contribute to better lives and more inclusive economies.

Introduction

Health and work are interrelated in many ways: health problems can reduce labour market participation and income, and conversely, bad employment conditions or unemployment can negatively affect physical and mental health.

This chapter assesses the labour market outcomes of people with chronic (non-communicable) diseases (such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, musculoskeletal diseases, and mental health conditions) and related behavioural risk factors (such as obesity, tobacco and harmful alcohol use). Chronic diseases and related behavioural risk factors may result in the premature death of people still in their working age or reduce their employment prospects and earnings. Ill-health can cause recurrent sick leave or long-term absence from work, and increases the probability of early exit from the labour force. This can result in increased welfare payments for disability, sick leave, unemployment, or early retirement.

Preventing chronic diseases through properly designed public health and prevention policies may lead to substantial economic and employment benefits via a healthier and more active workforce. Through closer integration, health policies and labour market policies can also play an important role in reducing the detrimental labour market impacts of ill-health, and contribute to better lives and more inclusive economies.

This chapter reviews the latest evidence on the impacts of chronic diseases and related behavioural risk factors on labour market outcomes in European countries, building on previous OECD work (Devaux and Sassi, 2015). Eurostat data on mortality are used to estimate the number of potential productive years of life lost due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) among the working-age population. The chapter also analyses the latest results from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to assess the labour market impacts of people living with chronic diseases and related risk factors. Labour market outcomes include employment status, productivity measures such as absence from work due to sickness and wages, and early exit from work.

Chronic diseases cause many premature deaths and a huge loss in potential productive life years

This section provides some estimates of the number of premature deaths due to NCDs among the working-age population and how this translates into the loss of potentially productive life years. The approach is based on some fairly simple and crude calculations, not accounting for all the productive life years lost due to greater morbidity and disability (which is discussed in the following sections, using a different dataset).

In the European Union, about 555 000 people aged 25 to 64 died from major NCDs (cardiovascular diseases, cancers, respiratory diseases, and diabetes) in 2013. This corresponds to a rate of about 200 per 100 000 population in this age group (Table 1.1). Premature mortality rates from NCDs among the working-age population were particularly high in Bulgaria, Hungary and Latvia (with a rate at least two-times greater than the EU average).

Table 1.1. Premature deaths and potential productive life years lost related to non-communicable diseases among people aged 25-64, EU countries, 2013

	Premature NCD deaths	Potential productive life years lost

	Number	Rate per 100 000 population	Number	Rate per 100 000 population

EU28 total

555 065

201

3 412 060

1 236

Austria

7 736

165

47 694

1 018

Belgium

10 307

173

62 115

1 042

Bulgaria

16 828

410

103 766

2 527

Croatia

6 894

293

40 015

1 701

Cyprus

558

116

3 786

789

Czech Republic

14 711

244

79 195

1 316

Denmark

5 177

178

29 755

1 023

Estonia

2 013

280

11 230

1 562

Finland

4 961

174

27 997

980

France

57 318

169

355 707

1 046

Germany

86 545

195

522 522

1 179

Greece

11 325

188

76 390

1 270

Hungary

22 947

411

129 389

2 319

Ireland

3 564

143

24 014

966

Italy

48 231

147

312 026

952

Latvia

4 439

400

29 731

2 682

Lithuania

5 910

372

39 220

2 466

Luxembourg

450

147

2 961

969

Malta

368

159

2 063

889

Netherlands

15 618

173

94 067

1 042

Poland

67 050

305

378 167

1 722

Portugal

9 827

170

66 294

1 147

Romania

40 621

361

247 952

2 203

Slovak Republic

9 148

289

53 324

1 685

Slovenia

2 380

200

13 384

1 122

Spain

38 003

142

256 969

960

Sweden

6 726

138

40 104

821

United Kingdom

55 410

166

362 228

1 084

Note: Non-communicable diseases include cardiovascular diseases (ICD-10: I00-I99),...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 23.11.2016
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Prävention / Gesundheitsförderung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Sozialpädagogik
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 92-64-26564-3 / 9264265643
• ISBN-13: 978-92-64-26564-6 / 9789264265646