Development of the Socio-Economic Characteristics and Standardised Death Rates of the European Union Member States
Gross domestic product per capita and the health expenditure per capita of the European Union Member States are strongly a positively correlated. The convergence process of the GDP and health expenditure per capita was stronger before 2009, before economic crises began to influence the economies. Health expenditure (HE) per capita increased more intensively between 2000 and 2014 than the GDP per capita, which resulted to a higher ratio of the HE per capita to the GDP per capita. In countries with a high living standard and a high level of HE per capita lower standardised death rates (SDR) in total and SDR for some of the non-communicable diseases were typical. The lowest SDR for most of the non- communicable diseases (NCD) were achieved at the Mediterranean Islands of Cyprus, Malta and also Portugal. The Mediterranean diet can be one of the main factors that caused the best status of lowest death rates in selected NCD.
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