Health in Poland

Life expectancy in Poland at birth was 74.1 years for men in 2017 and 81.8 for women.[1] It is still three years below the EU average. There are high rates of obesity and a rising burden of mental disorders.[2]

The Narodowy Fundusz Zdrowia (NFZ) is the national health insurer of Poland

According to the National Health Situation Report 2016,[3] the main causes of death in Poland are:

  • Cardiovascular diseases (45% of all deaths)
  • Cancer (25,4% of all deaths)
  • Other external reasons: suicide, communication injuries and falls (5,7% of all deaths)

Unhealthy behaviour

The legal age for buying tobacco or alcohol is 18.

The National Health Situation Report 2016 points smoking, alcohol abuse and overweight/obesity as the main factors contributing to years of life lost in the disability-adjusted life year scale:

  • smoking takes away 18.6 years of life from men and 7.9 years of life from women;
  • alcohol abuse is responsible for the loss of 9.5 years of lives for men and 1.7 years of lives for women. Average alcohol consumption is 10.7 litres per person/year, which is slightly higher than the European average of 10.2 litres
  • overweight and obesity is responsible for 9.6 years lost in general. The problem of overweight and obesity exists among 62 – 68% of men and 46 – 60% of women

Smoking itself causes loss of 13.1% lives, where behavioural factors take away 36% of lives.

A blanket ban on smoking in public places was introduced on November 15, 2010, with a penalty fine of up to 500 zlotys. Smoking rooms, called ‘palarnia’ in Polish, are permitted but it is not permitted to serve food in them. Municipalities may extend the ban to places such as parks and bus stops. [4]

The average consumption of alcohol in 2015 was 19.8 litres per year for men and 5.8 litres per year for women. Beer is consumed much more than wine.[5]

References
  1. "Poland". Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  2. "Poland HiT (2019)". European Observatory. 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  3. http://www.sdgs.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/sytuacja-zdrowotna-ludnosci-w-polsce-2016-s.pdf
  4. "Smoking in Krakow". Krakow Info. 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  5. "Alcohol Consumption in Poland". Life in Poland. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
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