While Europeans are living longer than ever before, there remain “unacceptably high” differences in life expectancy between countries in the report, with an 11-year gap between the highest and lowest.
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The European region’s overweight rate of 58.6 percent and obesity rate of 23 percent was behind just the Americas (61 percent overweight, 27 percent obese). Public Health England is looking into ways to bring down the UK’s high sugar consumption and is due to report before Christmas.
Young people across Europe may die at an earlier age than their grandparents if the region fails to curb smoking, drinking and obesity, the World Health Organisation has warned.
Those born in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Germany (along with many others) can all expect to live longer than us.
‘If rates of smoking and alcohol consumption and obesity do not decline we may risk the gains in life expectancy we have seen, which may mean that the next generation may lead shorter lives than we do, ‘ Ms Stein added.
While 30% of the population in Europe still smokes, the greatest successes in reducing tobacco use have occurred in Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine.
She said this could have the most serious impact on young people, since their lives may be shortened unless something is done to reduce consumption of tobacco, alcohol and calories.
Despite European alcohol consumption falling by 10 percent between 2005 and 2010, the continent managed to drink its way to the top of the WHO’s rankings.
The United Kingdom is above average on obesity, with 63.4% overweight or obese in 2014.
For Ireland, the life expectancy for a man is 78.5 and 83 for a woman, which is more than the regional average, of 73.1 years for a man and 80.3 for a woman.
For now, however, the life expectancy is increasing steadily within the region with the premature mortality rate decreasing.
‘What we do not want to see is that we are winning the war against alcohol and smoking but losing the war against obesity’.
The report also looked at vaccination rates and found generally good levels of coverage. In 2015, there were four deaths linked to measles within the region. For example, even though Infant mortality has fallen to an all-time low, a 10-fold difference remain between the highest and lowest countries, with 22 deaths per 1,000 births in Kyrgyzstan compared to two in Finland.
The WHO’s European Health Report covers 39 countries including European Union member states as well as former Soviet republics.
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By comparison, Slovenia, in eastern Europe, has a female life expectancy of 83.2.
