The Maltese people enjoy the longest lifespan spent in good health among all EU countries, but growing obesity could put that at risk in the future, an EU report issued today shows.
"Life expectancy in Malta is high and the population spend on average 90% of their lifespan in good health, longer than in any other EU country," the State of Health in the EU report says.
Life expectancy at birth in Malta was 81.9 years in 2015, up from 78.4 years in 2000 and above the EU average of 80.6 years.
Life expectancy gains were mainly the result of a reduction of premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases, though these remain the leading cause of death for both men and women.
In 2015, the number of healthy life years at birth was 72.6 years for men and 74.6 years for women, the highest rate in the EU for women, and the second highest rate for men.
"Despite these good results, the increase of risk factors such as obesity and alcohol consumption in recent years may well have a negative impact on healthy life expectancy in the future." the report warns.
In 2014, 20% of adults in Malta smoked tobacco every day, which was slightly below the EU average. Heavy alcohol use also remained below the EU average, but consumption per adult had increased since 2000, reaching 8.5 litres in 2014.
"Obesity prevalence is the highest in the EU and represents a significant public health challenge, with a quarter of the adult population and 30% of 15-year-olds overweight or obese."
Mortality from treatable cancers and respiratory diseases has declined
Overall, cancers accounted for 27% of all deaths in Malta, the report says. There was a substantial reduction in breast cancer mortality since the early 2000s, bringing death rates down from the highest in the EU to closer to the EU average.
Further remarkable improvements in survival were demonstrated for malignant melanoma, testicular, thyroid and prostate cancers. However, outcomes remained unchanged for some cancers, such as those of the pancreas, stomach and brain, and specific types of acute leukaemia in adults.
Deaths from lung cancer also remained fairly stable and were among the lowest in the EU. Of other major causes of death, mortality from respiratory
diseases also reduced steeply in the 2000s, converging to the EU average. These trends partially reflected improvements in available treatments and public health policies related to smoking.
Spending on health
Health spending increased steadily since 2005. In 2015, Malta spent EUR 2,255 per capita on health care, compared to the EU average of EUR 2,797. This equalled 8.4% of GDP, below the EU average of 9.9%. Malta was among the top six EU countries with the highest private spending on health, amounting to 31% of total health expenditure in 2015, the majority of which was paid out of pocket.
The report makes a number of recommendations, including a need to improve services in health centres (the primary health service.)
Read the EU report in full here.