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These are the most common reasons for Hungary’s high mortality rate
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As far as preventable diseases are concerned, Hungary is on the top of the “death list” among the EU countries. Even though Hungary spent more on disease prevention than the EU average, the situation is still critical concerning preventable deaths. But what is the reason behind?
On average in the EU, public and private spending on disease prevention accounted for 2.8% of total health expenditure in 2018, with the highest proportions in Italy (4.4%) and Finland (4.0%), according to Eurostat. The share of prevention expenditure was lowest in Slovakia (0.8% of total health expenditure), followed by Greece, Cyprus and Malta (1.3% each) and Romania (1.4%).
Compared to the size of the population, expenditure on preventive care was highest in Sweden (€ 165 / inhabitant), Finland (€ 152), Germany (€ 148) and the Netherlands (€ 146) in 2018, while the lowest was in Romania and Slovakia (€ 8 per inhabitant).
One year earlier, Hungary led the EU death toll in terms of preventable diseases.
According to Eurostat data, in 201,7 Hungary had the highest number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants among preventable deaths and diseases among those under 75 years of age. There were more than 300 such deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the year that put us even ahead of Romania on the EU list.
As the Hungarian news portal Pénzcentrum reports,
cardiovascular diseases are the leading causes of death in Hungary, where the number of patients and deaths from such diseases is remarkably high compared to other EU countries.
There can be up to 4,000 patients a month who die from cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, 30-35% of the population suffer from high blood pressure, which is also a significant proportion compared to other European countries. To avoid such diseases, prevention plays an important role.
While not denying the dangers of smoking, there are other factors that play a role in the grim Hungarian preventable death statistics: generally, a diet that is high in salt, high in saturated fat and high in the ‘forgotten killer’, processed sugar. I am not a ‘health nut’ but am astonished at how unhealthy most of the cuisine is.