The longevity and health spending of a country do not always go hand in hand.According to the last The Global Health and Wellness Report of 2017, published by Kantar Health, the United States is the region of the world that spends the most in health, but it is the seventh in longevity.In front of her, there are Japan and Spain, which occupy the first and second place in longevity, but the fourth and eighth, respectively, in health spending.
To draw this conclusion, the report makes a complete exam and focused on the medical care that the patient receives worldwide, contrasting which are the most common diseases depending on the country of origin, the functioning of the health system, as well as the habits ofhealthy life that the population carries.To do this, analyze the data from the United States, Japan, the EU5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), China and Russia.
In Spain, for example, the three main causes of death are related to cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes.Likewise, the habit of smoking has increased "dramatically" in our country in recent years, as highlighted by the document.So much so, that 30 percent of the Spanish adult population smokes and 26 percent, in addition, daily.
However, the population life expectancy is 83 years old, the largest in Europe and the second in the world, only behind Japan, which is around 87 years.However, Japan currently faces one of the most important demographic crises on the planet, since 26 percent of the population is over 65 years old and birth rates have been stagnant for years.
Obesity is ‘Ceba’ in the United States and Germany
In the case of the United States, together with Germany, the two countries with the highest percentage of obesity.In fact, a third of Americans are obese and one in 10 has diabetes (cancer is the second disease that prevails most in this territory, affecting 23 percent of the population).
Likewise, the report also detects that 152 million Americans (62.5 percent of the country's adult population) have been diagnosed with a condition that could be called “pre -existing” for future health services.This implies that, based on the US health system on an insurance model and not of universal coverage, 41 percent of these citizens use 'savings formulas', or what is the same, they take fewer medications from prescriptions and//or buy less pills.
“While this last report can be seen that progress has been made in patient care, there is still much to improve the lives of people suffering from various conditions, since in all countries, diagnostic rates andtreatment vary widely and show that there is a lot of margin of improvement, ”says Michal Frostin, responsible in Kantar Health.