Gender and Regional Differentials in Health Expectancy in Greece

BACKGROUND: Differentials and inequalities in heath status are closely related to the implementation and the sustainability of public health policies. The paper investigates differences in health expectancy as an indicator of population health among regions and between genders. DESIGN AND METHODS: Based on activity limitation, we compute Healthy Life Years indicator by applying the prevalence-based Sullivan method. The analysis is based on data from the National Health Survey conducted in Greece in 2009 by the Hellenic Statistical Authority, carried out on a multistage probability sample of 6172 individuals. RESULTS: The results show that men are more likely than women to live a greater part of their life in good health. When regions are considered (NUTS_1 and NUTS_2 levels), the resulting diversities in healthy life years are more pronounced than those in life expectancy. CONCLUSIONS: The paper provides additional insights about health status discrepancies among Greek geographic regions and between genders. The results indicate that men are more likely to report to be in good health than women, and the differences by gender are more pronounced at regional than at national level. This empirical evidence can be used for monitoring both, the population health status and the undesired differentials in health expectancy, and may therefore be a useful tool for health policies aiming at reducing heath inequalities among individuals.