Ukraine in the Midst of an Unprecedented Demographic Decline

About half of deaths before the age of 75 in Ukraine could be avoided through adequate prevention and treatment, says new World Bank study “An Avoidable Tragedy: Combating Ukraine’s Health Crisis – Lessons from Europe”, presented in Kyiv today. The study provides a diagnosis of demographic and health challenges in Ukraine and relates these challenges to experience and evidence from other European countries.

Ukraine has the highest depopulation rate in Europe, the Report concludes. The probability of reaching old age in Ukraine is lower compared to Central European countries. This is especially true for Ukrainian males, with adult male deaths being at levels comparable to countries with less than one-fifth the GNP per capita of Ukraine. Moreover, Ukrainians spend almost 13 percent of their lives in poor health, compared to Poles where this number is 8 percent, or Slovenians and Czechs with 9 percent of live years spent in poor health. Non-communicable diseases and chronic conditions are responsible for the bulk of mortality in Ukraine, although communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis have reached epidemic proportions and are a growing threat to the health of the Ukrainian nation. The health and demographic crisis is concentrated among the working-age population, especially males, and therefore entails high social and economic costs to be paid by the whole nation.

The report highlights that about half of deaths before the age of 75 in Ukraine could be avoided through behaviour change and adequate prevention and treatment. In particular, 94 percent of mortality caused by three major risk factors: tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and breach of road safety -- could have been avoided with adequate prevention. Furthermore, 25 percent of pre-mature deaths in Ukraine in 2004 could have been avoided with effective health care treatment. Early treatment at the primary care level could have avoided 80 percent of deaths among working age males and about 30 percent among working age females.

Source: http://go.worldbank.org/XG5ECMM4H0