European Health Levels Suddenly Collapsed After 2003 and Nobody Is Sure Why

KentuckyFC writes "Europeans are living longer. But since 2003, they've suddenly enjoyed fewer years of healthy life. For example, in Italy between 1995 and 2003, life expectancy increased from 75 to 80.1 for men and from 81.8 to 85.3 for women. At the same time, the number of years of healthy life increased from 66.7 to 70.9 for men and from 70 to 74.4 for women. But since 2003, while life expectancy has increased further, the number of years of healthy living has plummeted to about 62 for both sexes. More worrying still is that demographers say the same trend has been repeated right across Europe. Only the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands appear to have escaped. That raises an obvious question: what happened in 2003? One idea is that the weather is to blame. In 2003, Europe experienced an extreme heat wave that led to some 80,000 extra deaths across the region. And the higher temperatures could also have triggered ill health, particularly in older people suffering from chronic diseases such as diabetes. That has important implications for governments who have to pay for health costs in Europe. And it raises the possibility that climate change is already having a bigger impact on human health than anyone imagined."

Comments

Facebook

[muftak]

Facebook

Re:Facebook

[ebno-10db]

Sounds right to me. In fact, Facebook is responsible for most of the world's ill's. Eliminate Zuck and his legion of peons, and we'll end ill health, eliminate hunger, end war, and never have an ingrown toenail again. Sounds good to me.

It's obvious, isn't it?

[damn_registrars]

This has to all be Barak Obama's fault, personally. There is no other possible explanation.

Re:It's obvious, isn't it?

[noh8rz10]

and if your tea party then grammar is optional.

Re:It's obvious, isn't it?

[Zynder]

If you make a typo then the Errorists win!

Re:Are they fatter?

[CubicleZombie]

Maybe it's all the waiting lists for their socialized health care.

/troll

Re:Are they fatter?

[Mr Krinkle]

We prefer the terms,
"Big boned"
"fluffy"
"horizontally blessed"

Saying we're fat can lessen our mental well being which causes global warming.

Re:In Europe old people don't expect...

[mrchaotica]

There's no lameness filter for bold!

Re:Alternative Theory

[r1348]

Exactly, that's why tropical areas enjoy such a healthy life!

The *real* cause is obvious

[msobkow]

All the H1B programmers that had been hired to work on Y2K returned to Europe, bringing with them the North American diet.