All this could have been avoided: 498.5 deaths per 100,000 population — this is the mortality rate in Latvia, of which 189.5 were from treatable diseases and 309 from preventable ones.
In this indicator, our country ranks 1st in the EU, followed by Hungary and Romania.
On the other hand, the most prosperous appear to be Cyprus, Luxembourg, and Italy.
Oleg Krasnoperov, an economist at the Bank of Latvia, comments in Diena: “In Latvia, a large part of society suffers from poor health and premature mortality. This has a significant negative impact on the economy of the state — a lower population, low employment, as well as low productivity, income, and life satisfaction.”
The Ministry of Health, for its part, promises “many strategic plans in the field of prevention and health care.” These concern cardiology, oncology, maternal and child health, and obesity prevention. “Additionally, this year, the progress in organizing mental health care and reducing the prevalence of alcohol and drug use is being assessed.”
Experts also note that health issues are the reason for the relatively low employment of Latvian men of mature working age, which lags behind the EU average. Moreover, according to the Bank of Latvia, people with chronic diseases earn about 8% less than their healthy colleagues. “Poor health reduces expected employment duration and thus also the return on education.”
