Life expectancy by WBG -New Zealand -diff

New Zealand is a high income country, and this is reflected in the overall good health status of the population. However like other wealthy countries, New Zealand suffers from high rates of

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

and

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

. The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that New Zealand is doing 92.3% of what should be possible at its level of income for the right to health.

History

Māori life expectancy was about 30 years in the 18th century, similar to that of Western Europe. After Europeans brought new diseases, and loss of land impoverished many Māori, the childhood mortality rate was very high and Māori life expectancy dropped to 25 years for men and 23 years for women by the end of the 19th century. Pre-contact Māori viewed disease as a punishment for breaking tribal tapu but also recognised that some families were prone to certain disease. The standard practice of

tohunga In the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teache ...

was to isolate the victim in a small shelter. The most common serious disease was tuberculosis (''kohi''). However, Māori did not recognise the symptoms as being from one disease. Kohi was considered the work of demons and caused by

makutu ''Mākutu'' in the Māori language of New Zealand means "witchcraft", "sorcery", "to bewitch"; and also a "spell or incantation". It may also be described as a belief in malignant occult powers possessed by certain people. An October 2007 māk ...

(witchcraft).

Public health programs

There are public health campaigns for obesity, drinking, smoking and various vaccines.

Health care

The health care system has undergone significant changes throughout the past several decades. From an essentially fully public system based on the

Social Security Act 1938 The Social Security Act 1938 is a New Zealand Act of Parliament concerning unemployment insurance which established New Zealand as a welfare state. This act is important in the history of social welfare, as it established the first ever social sec ...

, reforms have introduced market and health insurance elements primarily since the 1980s, creating a mixed public-private system for delivering healthcare. In 2012, New Zealand spent 8.7% of GDP on health care, or US$3,929 per capita. Of that, approximately 77% was government expenditure. In a 2010 study, New Zealand was shown to have the lowest level of medication use in 14 developed countries (i.e. used least medicines overall), and also spent the lowest amount on healthcare amongst the same list of countries, with US$2510 ($3460) per capita, compared to the United States at US$7290.

Mental health

Mental health in New Zealand generally follows the trends of

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-making. Mental health ...

in other

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

countries. New Zealand's outdoor life style and high standard of living are balanced by isolation and a self-reliant culture, which discourages asking for help. Historically, people with mental health problems were

institutionalised In sociology, institutionalisation (or institutionalization) is the process of embedding some conception (for example a belief, norm, social role, particular value or mode of behavior) within an organization, social system, or society as a who ...

, whereas now the focus is on care in the wider community. The stigma around poor mental health has been lessened in recent years as a result of this change and public education campaigns. However, New Zealand's

Māori people The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...

, other minorities, and youth continue to be over-represented in the negative mental health statistics.

Health statistics

The following statistics are a sample from the World Health Organization Statistical Information System. The year on which the data were sampled follows the statistic in brackets. * Demographics ** Population (in thousands): 4,460 (2012) ** Total

fertility rate The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if: # she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime # she were t ...

(per woman): 2.07 (2012) ** Adolescent fertility rate (%): 27 (2004) * Funding ** Per capita government spending ( PPP Int $): 1,905 (2006) ** Per capita total spending (PPP Int $): 2,447 (2006) ** Total expenditure (% of

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

): 9.4 (2006) * Life expectancy **

Life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

at birth (years): 82 (2012) ** Life expectancy for females (years): 84 (2012) ** Life expectancy for males (years): 80 (2012) ** Neonatal mortality (per 1,000 live births): 3 (2012) **

Infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of young children under the age of 1. This death toll is measured by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the probability of deaths of children under one year of age per 1000 live births. The under-five morta ...

(per 1,000 live births): 5 (2012) ** Years of life lost to

communicable diseases An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

(%): 5 (2002) ** Years of life lost to injuries (%): 17 (2002) ** Years of life lost to non-communicable diseases (%): 79 (2002) Life expectancy is lower for the Māori and Pacific populations by around six years.

References