Although death rates have decreased in Hungary since 1985,
life expectancy
remains low by European standards, particularly among
Romani people
. Almost half the deaths are caused by
cardiovascular disease
. A tax on some high-sugar foods, introduced in 2011, has encountered opposition from the
confectionery
trade.
Drinking
remains a major health problem, while
smoking
prevalence has greatly decreased. Health, in general, is poorer in the southern and eastern parts of the country.
Public health measures
[
edit
]
In 2016
Hunbisco
produced a critical report on the implementation of the sugar tax which was introduced in Hungary in 2011. It reported that the consumption of products subject to the sugar tax had decreased. They argued that manufacturers now have a smaller budget to explore healthier alternatives to sugar. Innovation and new marketing initiatives have reduced since 2011. The effect of the health tax, in addition to 27% VAT, increases the price of products by as much as 40% and has led to redundancies. They say that the consumption of other products not subject to the tax but with similar nutritional contents, like popcorn, has not dropped. They advocate the abolition of the tax in favor of educational measures.
[1]
In 2011 the government passed a new tax levied on food products containing excessive amounts of salt, sugar or caffeine and since 2014 it is illegal to advertise food products containing more than 2% trans-fatty acids.
[2]
Mortality statistics
[
edit
]
Life expectancy
[
edit
]
Despite recent improvements, life expectancy in Hungary is still among the lowest in the
European Union
.
[3]
Romani people
have a life expectancy up to ten years lower than ethnic Hungarians.
[4]
Year
|
Life expectancy
(years, man/woman)
|
Infant mortality rate
(‰)
|
Suicide rate
(per 100,000 people)
|
1949
|
59.28 / 63.40
|
91.0
|
23.9
|
1960
|
65.89 / 70.10
|
47.6
|
26.0
|
1970
|
66.31 / 72.08
|
35.9
|
34.6
|
1980
|
65.45 / 72.70
|
23.2
|
44.9
|
1990
|
65.13 / 73.71
|
14.8
|
39.8
|
2001
|
68.15 / 76.46
|
8.1
|
29.2
|
2011
|
70.93 / 78.23
|
4.9
|
24.3
|
2012
|
71.45 / 78.38
|
4.9
|
23.7
|
2013
|
72.01 / 78.73
|
5.1
|
21.1
|
2020
|
72,21 / 78,74
|
3,5
|
17,49
|
Sources:
[5]
[6]
[7]
Major causes of death
[
edit
]
62,979 deaths (49.4% of all) in Hungary were caused by
cardiovascular disease
in 2013.
[5]
The number of cardiovascular disease deaths peaked in 1985 at 79,355, declining continuously since the fall of Communism.
[5]
The second most important cause of death was
cancer
with 33,274 (26.2% of all), stagnating since the 1990s.
[5]
The number of
accident
deaths dropped from 8,760 in 1990 to 3,654 in 2013, and the number of
suicides
from 4,911 in 1983 to 2,093 (21.1 per 100,000 people) in 2013 (the lowest data registered since 1956).
[5]
[6]
According to
Peter Polt
,
Chief Prosecutor of Hungary
, there were only 133
homicides
in 2012, which is the lowest number registered in the last 50 years in Hungary.
[8]
The homicide rate was 1.3 per 100,000 people, which is
among the lowest in the World
.
Major health issues
[
edit
]
Despite recent improvements,
alcoholism
is still a major problem in Hungary, inherited from the
Socialist era
.
[9]
According to
KSH
estimates, the number of
alcohol addicts
was 1,052,000 (10% of the total population) in 1995, and declined to 432,000 (4.3% of the total population) in 2005.
[10]
Hungarians drank 9.5 litres of pure alcohol per capita in 2012; in 2005 alcohol consumption took the form of 40%
wine
, 35%
beer
, and 24%
spirits
.
[11]
). Annual alcohol consumption has remained constant at between 9 and 11.5 liters of pure alcohol since the 1970s.
[12]
Smoking
[
edit
]
Smoking
also causes significant losses to Hungarian society. 28% of the adult population smoked in 2012, dropping to 25.8% in 2014 due to new regulations.
[13]
Nationwide smoking bans have been extended to every indoor public place (including pubs), and the sale of tobacco is limited to state-controlled (but privately owned) tobacco shops
[14]
called
Nemzeti dohanybolt
(National Tobacco Shop). The number of stores where people can buy tobacco decreased from 40,000?42,000 to 5,300.
[15]
In 2013
WHO
gave an award to
Prime Minister
Viktor Orban
for "accomplishments in the area of tobacco control".
[16]
The
Hungarian Central Statistical Office
measures smoking habits on a five-year basis. In 2019 24,5% of the adult population used tobacco products daily while 55,2% never smoked.
[13]
Overall the percentage of adults who regularly smoke dropped from 27% in 2009 to 24,5% in 2019. According to the
Hungarian Society of Cardiology
approximately 40,000 people die from smoking-related causes such as cancer.
[17]
A 2017 study found that primary care doctors provide insufficient treatment to those suffering from nicotine addiction and seeking to quit.
[18]
Only 2% of smokers received pharmacotherapy while 25% of the participants were treated with brief intervention programs. These findings articulated the need for better guidelines for general practitioners to treat nicotine addiction more effectively.
Regional differences
[
edit
]
According to the last
Orszagos Lakossagi Egeszsegfelmeres
("National Population Health Survey") held in 2003 the most healthy
region
is
Western Transdanubia
and the least is the
Southern Great Plain
. There are huge differences between the western and eastern parts of Hungary,
heart disease
,
hypertension
,
stroke
and
suicide
is prevalent in the mostly
agricultural
and low-income characteristic
Great Plain
(can be described as the Hungarian
Stroke Belt
), but infrequent in the high-income and
middle class
characteristic
Western Transdanubia
.
Central Hungary
(region of
Budapest
) is between east and west by health.
[19]
See also
[
edit
]
Healthcare in Hungary
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Better health but side effects persist"
. Budapest Times. 21 February 2016. Archived from
the original
on 2 March 2016
. Retrieved
21 February
2016
.
- ^
Czuriga, Istvan (April 2016).
"Country report Hungary"
(PDF)
.
European Society of Cardiology
. Retrieved
24 May
2022
.
- ^
Eurostat - Life expectancy at birth
- ^
"Hungary's Healthcare System"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2012-02-13
. Retrieved
2016-02-21
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Vital statistics, Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH)
- ^
a
b
Rudolf Andorka - Harcsa Istvan: Devians viselkedes, TARKI, Budapest 1990, pp. 9-11 (Hungarian)
- ^
"STADAT ? 6.1.7. Szuleteskor varhato atlagos elettartam, atlageletkor (2001?)"
.
www.ksh.hu
. Retrieved
2022-05-24
.
- ^
Polt Peter: reg volt ilyen alacsony itthon a gyilkossagok szama ("Peter Polt: number of homicides is the lowest for a long time"), HVG (Hungarian)
- ^
Judit Kiss - Edina Gabor: Az alkoholfogyasztas hazai tendenciai a 80-as evekt?l napjainkig I. ("Tendencies of the Hungarian alcohol consumption from the 1980s"), Orszagos Egeszsegfejlesztesi Intezet ("National Institute for Health Development") (Hungarian)
- ^
Number of alcohol addicts in Hungary, 1990?2005
- ^
WHO Global Alcohol Report, Europe (English)
, p.20.
- ^
Alcohol, coffee, tea and tobacco consumption in Hungary (1970?2011), Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH)
- ^
a
b
"STADAT ? 2.4.40. A nepesseg megoszlasa dohanyzasi szokasok szerint (2009?)"
.
www.ksh.hu
. Retrieved
2022-05-24
.
- ^
Govt allocates HUF 450 mln to company facilitating tobacco sales monopoly, Budapest Business Journal (English)
- ^
Itt vannak a nemzeti dohanyboltok ("Here are the national tobacco shops"), index.hu (Hungarian)
- ^
WHO awards Orban in fight against “tobacco industry tactics”, Budapest Business Journal (English)
- ^
"Ennyi magyar hal meg evente a cigit?l"
.
Noizz.hu
(in Hungarian). 2019-11-21
. Retrieved
2022-05-24
.
- ^
Sipos, Valeria; Palinkas, Anita; Kovacs, Nora; Csenteri, Karola Orsolya; Vincze, Ferenc; Sz?ll?si, Jozsef Gerg?; Jenei, Tibor; Papp, Magor; Adany, Roza; Sandor, Janos (2018-02-01).
"Smoking cessation support for regular smokers in Hungarian primary care: a nationwide representative cross-sectional study"
.
BMJ Open
.
8
(2): e018932.
doi
:
10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018932
.
ISSN
2044-6055
.
PMC
5829607
.
PMID
29431134
.
- ^
"Orszagos Lakossagi Egeszsegfelmeres ("National Population Health Survey"), 2003, Dr. Dora Hermann: Kronikus betegsegek (Chronic illnesses)"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2016-04-04
. Retrieved
2016-02-21
.
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