Denmark Region
Medium HALE and Life Expectancy
High Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #12
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.687
Practical Recommendation Summary: Initiatives to reduce levels of drinking and promote healthy lifestyle in Denmark are a welcome development. The proportion of residents who report being in good health is high, although a gap exists between income groups that should be addressed.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Devise a strategic plan focused on elderly health status and reduction of disability-adjusted years. To boost healthy longevity and bring more productive and effective years government should focus on the slow-motion disaster of non-communicable diseases.
● More focus on elderly support and social inclusiveness. Increasing demand for age-friendly services and products creates both challenges and opportunities for the government and business. Aging causes pressure on the national budget and stability of the economy. On the other hand, aged people are becoming the "seventh continent", so businesses should adjust their strategies in the long-term perspective.
● Attract more innovation-focused investments in healthcare. It is vital for every economy to expand the usage of advanced technologies with focus on cost reduction and rise of efficiency.
● Reducing obesity with a focus on elimination its negative impact on health. Rising obesity is one of the most harmful behavioral risk factors. It can be attributed to burden cardiovascular diseases and a great number of deaths in the elder years.
● Utilising opportunities of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in healthcare. Denmark is one world’s most eHealth-ready countries, it has a strong culture for partnerships between the public and private sector. The country ranks number one in the world for the IT systems in our hospitals and general practice surgeries and for digital communication between healthcare sectors. Advanced health research and development is supported at national, regional and municipal level.
● Popularization of healthy way of life. Initiate strategies to improve the health of the nation, promote the importance of focusing on socio-demographic factors to ensure delivery of healthy newborns and decrease the burden of behavioral factors
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● Outstanding long live expectancy for elders: at 65 women expect to leave 20 years and men 18 years more.
● Smoking rates now are among the lowest in the EU.
● Amenable mortality is almost the lowest in the EU.
● There is a low amount of unmet health needs in Denmark.
● Great reduce in mortality rates after 65 years that influenced positively the healthy longevity.
● Healthcare system is well-organized, comprehensive and composed of two levels: public and private, where public occupies 84%.
● The obesity levels are much lower than in other EU countries.
Weaknesses:
● The life expectancy gap is still high for Denmark, only 60% of additional predicted years can be health-adjusted. ● The mortality rate due to cancer is the fourth largest in the EU and this disease remains to be the main burden for the slowdown of life expectancy improvements.
● Nearly 1 in 5 people in Denmark lives with hypertension and 1 in 12 lives in chronic depression.
● Waiting periods for some diagnostic procedures can be long enough.
● OECD ranked Denmark’s healthcare system 34th.
Opportunities:
● The great amount of General Practitioners that provide the effective services (91% compared to the OECD average) for the population and provide an accessible basic medical coverage.
● Healthcare system is effective in treating life-threatening conditions.
● Vast opportunities to finance implementation of AI and other advanced technologies in the healthcare such as robotics in surgery, 3D-printing, smart biomarker panels.
● Modernization of hospitals and other medical facilities with focus on prevention.
Threats:
● 1 in 6 is aged 65 years and suffer from NCDs such as diabetics, arthritis or depression and are used to apply to healthcare system.
● Ischemic heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer are the main reasons of deaths in the elder years.
● Low back pain, diabetes, falls and headache disorders are the main causes of the disability-adjusted years.
● The main diseases burden in Denmark remains to be NCDs including musculoskeletal and depressive disorder.
● 37% of Danish people report to have a regular heavy alcohol consumption.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● Low disparities in access to healthcare system across different income groups.
● Broaden use of advanced technologies with focus on cost reduction and rise of efficiency.
● Out-of-pocket expenditures on health are relatively low and are just 19% of total expenses.
● There is a Danish Patient Compensation Association for control of the provision of the services and dealing with complaints.
● In 2016 the government has launched the special programme with investments of EUR 40.2 million dollars in elderly care.
● Physical activity among adults is higher that the EU average as it was reported that almost 80% of people are involved in at least moderate activity
Weaknesses Analysis:
● High disparities in educational level: people with lower level of education are nearly 30% more likely to suffer from asthma and 2.5 more likely to have diabetics.
● The number of doctors is increasing with lower pace compared to other EU countries. That cause disproportions between unmet needs and growing population.
● There is a gap in well-being across different income groups: 82% of people with high income report to feel healthy, while in low income group there are only 68% of people that feel good.
● 30% of diseases in Denmark are caused by the behavioural risk factors such as smoking, drinking, eating of the unhealthy food and lack of physical activity.
● 40% of adolescents were drunk at list twice in their life due to the data of the 2013 year.
● 14% of population were obese in 2014 and this indicator increased if to compare with 2000.
● Low physical activity among 15-year-olds is a great concern for Denmark as only 12% were involved in some activities.
High Gap between HALE and Life Expectancy
Final Longevity Progressiveness Ranking: #12
Final Longevity Progressiveness Score: 0.687
Practical Recommendation Summary: Initiatives to reduce levels of drinking and promote healthy lifestyle in Denmark are a welcome development. The proportion of residents who report being in good health is high, although a gap exists between income groups that should be addressed.
Practical Recommendations (Full):
● Devise a strategic plan focused on elderly health status and reduction of disability-adjusted years. To boost healthy longevity and bring more productive and effective years government should focus on the slow-motion disaster of non-communicable diseases.
● More focus on elderly support and social inclusiveness. Increasing demand for age-friendly services and products creates both challenges and opportunities for the government and business. Aging causes pressure on the national budget and stability of the economy. On the other hand, aged people are becoming the "seventh continent", so businesses should adjust their strategies in the long-term perspective.
● Attract more innovation-focused investments in healthcare. It is vital for every economy to expand the usage of advanced technologies with focus on cost reduction and rise of efficiency.
● Reducing obesity with a focus on elimination its negative impact on health. Rising obesity is one of the most harmful behavioral risk factors. It can be attributed to burden cardiovascular diseases and a great number of deaths in the elder years.
● Utilising opportunities of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in healthcare. Denmark is one world’s most eHealth-ready countries, it has a strong culture for partnerships between the public and private sector. The country ranks number one in the world for the IT systems in our hospitals and general practice surgeries and for digital communication between healthcare sectors. Advanced health research and development is supported at national, regional and municipal level.
● Popularization of healthy way of life. Initiate strategies to improve the health of the nation, promote the importance of focusing on socio-demographic factors to ensure delivery of healthy newborns and decrease the burden of behavioral factors
SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
● Outstanding long live expectancy for elders: at 65 women expect to leave 20 years and men 18 years more.
● Smoking rates now are among the lowest in the EU.
● Amenable mortality is almost the lowest in the EU.
● There is a low amount of unmet health needs in Denmark.
● Great reduce in mortality rates after 65 years that influenced positively the healthy longevity.
● Healthcare system is well-organized, comprehensive and composed of two levels: public and private, where public occupies 84%.
● The obesity levels are much lower than in other EU countries.
Weaknesses:
● The life expectancy gap is still high for Denmark, only 60% of additional predicted years can be health-adjusted. ● The mortality rate due to cancer is the fourth largest in the EU and this disease remains to be the main burden for the slowdown of life expectancy improvements.
● Nearly 1 in 5 people in Denmark lives with hypertension and 1 in 12 lives in chronic depression.
● Waiting periods for some diagnostic procedures can be long enough.
● OECD ranked Denmark’s healthcare system 34th.
Opportunities:
● The great amount of General Practitioners that provide the effective services (91% compared to the OECD average) for the population and provide an accessible basic medical coverage.
● Healthcare system is effective in treating life-threatening conditions.
● Vast opportunities to finance implementation of AI and other advanced technologies in the healthcare such as robotics in surgery, 3D-printing, smart biomarker panels.
● Modernization of hospitals and other medical facilities with focus on prevention.
Threats:
● 1 in 6 is aged 65 years and suffer from NCDs such as diabetics, arthritis or depression and are used to apply to healthcare system.
● Ischemic heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease and lung cancer are the main reasons of deaths in the elder years.
● Low back pain, diabetes, falls and headache disorders are the main causes of the disability-adjusted years.
● The main diseases burden in Denmark remains to be NCDs including musculoskeletal and depressive disorder.
● 37% of Danish people report to have a regular heavy alcohol consumption.
SWOT Conclusions
Strengths Analysis:
● Low disparities in access to healthcare system across different income groups.
● Broaden use of advanced technologies with focus on cost reduction and rise of efficiency.
● Out-of-pocket expenditures on health are relatively low and are just 19% of total expenses.
● There is a Danish Patient Compensation Association for control of the provision of the services and dealing with complaints.
● In 2016 the government has launched the special programme with investments of EUR 40.2 million dollars in elderly care.
● Physical activity among adults is higher that the EU average as it was reported that almost 80% of people are involved in at least moderate activity
Weaknesses Analysis:
● High disparities in educational level: people with lower level of education are nearly 30% more likely to suffer from asthma and 2.5 more likely to have diabetics.
● The number of doctors is increasing with lower pace compared to other EU countries. That cause disproportions between unmet needs and growing population.
● There is a gap in well-being across different income groups: 82% of people with high income report to feel healthy, while in low income group there are only 68% of people that feel good.
● 30% of diseases in Denmark are caused by the behavioural risk factors such as smoking, drinking, eating of the unhealthy food and lack of physical activity.
● 40% of adolescents were drunk at list twice in their life due to the data of the 2013 year.
● 14% of population were obese in 2014 and this indicator increased if to compare with 2000.
● Low physical activity among 15-year-olds is a great concern for Denmark as only 12% were involved in some activities.