Health in Spain

In 2012, life expectancy at birth in Spain reached 82.5 years, one of the highest among OECD countries and more than two years higher than the OECD average (80.2 years). Only Japan (83.2 years), Iceland (83.0 years) and Switzerland (82.8 years) had a higher life expectancy than Spain in 2012. The top three causes of death since 1970 have been cardiovascular diseases, cancer and respiratory diseases.

Obesity

In 2013 there had been a 14% rise in the number of overweight people since 1987 when the figure had been 40% according to a survey conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Estadistica. 18% of men and 16% of women were regarded as obese. These was attributed to an increase in sedentary lifestyles. 14.4% of men and 17% of women declared they don't do any physical exercise. In 2015 according to the World Health Organization 22.8% of men and 24.7% of women were obese. Spain was number 48 on the global obesity scale.

Smoking

Spain has achieved progress in reducing tobacco consumption over the past decade, with rates of daily smokers among adults coming down 32% in 2001 to 24% in 2011. However, smoking rates in Spain still remain higher than the developed world average. At the same time, as in most other OECD countries, obesity rates among adults have increased in Spain, with the rate rising from 12.6% in 2001 to 16.6% in 2011 (based on self-reported height and weight). This is much lower than in the United States (where the obesity rate was 28.6% in 2012 also based on self-reported data), but still the growing prevalence of obesity foreshadows increases in the occurrence of health problems (such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases), and higher health care costs in the future.

Diabetes

In 2015 it was estimated that 10.58% of the population has diabetes, costing about $3,090 per person per year.

See also

• Health care in Spain
• Water supply and sanitation in Spain