Health in Sweden has generally improved over time, with

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 ...

increasing, and is at a high level in international comparison. Life expectancy in 2021 was 84.8 years for women and 81.2 years for men and it increased 2.3 years on average from 2006 to 2019. However, the health situation varies between groups in Swedish society and equitable health has proven to be a challenge, with level of education, employment status and country of birth being factors that strongly influence health in the Swedish population. The two leading causes of death in Sweden are cardiovascular disease and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. Infant mortality in Sweden was 2.1 per 1000 living births in 2020, down from 22 per 1000 in 1950.

Health of specific groups in society

In self-assessments of health, young women indicate a higher level of

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

and mild

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 hea ...

issues compared to other age groups and compared to men. Women without upper secondary education have shown a slightly negative trend in life expectancy from 2006 to 2020. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

resulted in a decrease in life expectancy of 0.7 years in 2020 compared to 2019, with COVID-19 being the third most common cause of death in Sweden. Older persons, men, and persons born outside of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

were some of the groups that were overrepresented among COVID-19 cases resulting in serious disease and death in Sweden.

International comparison

A new measure of expected human capital calculated for 195 countries from 1990 to 2016 and defined for each birth cohort as the expected years lived from age 20 to 64 years and adjusted for educational attainment, learning or education quality, and functional health status was published by ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'' in September 2018. Sweden had the fifteenth highest level of expected human capital with 24 health, education, and learning-adjusted expected years lived between age 20 and 64 years.

Organisations

The

Public Health Agency of Sweden The Public Health Agency of Sweden ( sv, Folkhälsomyndigheten, abbreviated ''Fohm'') is a Swedish government agency with national responsibility for public health. It falls under the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs and works to promote p ...

(''Folkhälsomyndigheten'') is the government agency responsible for public health including

infectious disease 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 di ...

, while health care and social services is under the responsibility of Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (''Socialstyrelsen''). At the regional level, the 21

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

(formerly county councils) are responsible for financing and providing health care. At the local level, the 290

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

are responsible for social welfare services including elderly care as well as for sanitation and various health and environment issues such as food hygiene.

References

{{Europe in topic, Health in

Health of specific groups in society

International comparison

Organisations

See also

References