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HEALTH

France’s 2017 health report: The French are living longer but not so healthily

The French can expect to live longer lives than people living in other developed countries but those years might not be spent in the best health, a new report shows. Here's what else it said about health in France.

Published: 10 November 2017 17:24 CET
France's 2017 health report: The French are living longer but not so healthily
Photo: Flickr
The study published every two years by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) compared people's health across 35 developed nations. 
 
In France, people born today can expect to live to 82.4 years compared to an average life expectancy of 80.6 years. 
 
This puts France in sixth place behind the likes of Japan, where people have the highest life expectancy at 83.9 years and Spain and Switzerland, where in both countries people can expect to live to a very respectable 83-years-old. 
 
The study also showed that France has one of the lowest rate of deaths caused by heart attack, only behind Japan and South Korea. 
 
READ ALSO: 

Question: Just how healthy is the French health system?

Photo: AFP
 
But while life expectancy might be high and a fatal heart attack less likely than elsewhere, the French aren't living out their years in the best health, the report shows.
 
The rate of dementia including Alzheimer's in France is higher than the average
 
The figure stands at 20 cases of dementia out of every 1000 people which is put down to France's aging population. 
 
The health study also showed that France has a lower than average rate of overweight and obese people, with 49 percent of people over the age of falling into these categories compared to 54 percent. 
 
And the same went for air pollution with the average annual exposure of French people to fine particles at 12.4 micrograms / m3, against 15.1 in the average of OECD countries.
 
However the report isn't all good news for the French, with tabacco and alcohol consumption higher than the average seen across the nations included in the OECD study. 
 
Over the age of 15, a massive 22.4 percent of the French population smokes against an average of 18.4 percent and they drink 11.9 litres of pure alcohol each a year, compared the average of nine litres. 
 
The report also warns against the overuse of antibiotics, with the French using them 50 percent more compared to other developed countries. 
 

HEALTH

Are Danes cutting back on cigarettes and alcohol?

Danish stores sold a significantly lower quantity of alcohol and cigarettes over the counter last year, new data from Statistics Denmark show.

Published: 14 June 2024 07:42 CEST
Are Danes cutting back on cigarettes and alcohol?

Some 3,852 cigarettes were sold year, which amounts to 804 per person over the age of 18. But that compares to a figures of 854 per person on 2022.

Cigarette sales in Denmark have been declining since 2018.

Sales of sprits, beer and wine fell by 7.8 percent, 5.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

Danish business sold the equivalent of 44.4 million litres of pure alcohol, which works out at 11.9 units per week on average for each person over the age of 18.

Although that is a lower value than in 2022, it still exceeds the amount recommended by the Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen).

The Health Authority recommends that adults over 18 drink no more than 10 units per week and no more than four in a single day.

READ ALSO: Should Denmark raise the minimum age for buying alcohol?

“The numbers are still too high and it’s an average that could have a skewed distribution,” University of Southern Denmark professor, Janne Tholstrup, said in relation to the alcohol sales figures. Tholstrup has published research on Denmark’s alcohol culture.

That is in spite of a 30-year-trend of falling alcohol consumption, according to the professor.

“The majority of Danes stay under the recommended 10 unite per week. That means there is a large group with a persistently excessive consumption of alcohol,” she said.

The Statistics Denmark figures also show that sales of loose tobacco – such as the type used in roll-up cigarettes and pipes – also fell last year. Some 58 tonnes less were sold compared to 2022.

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