Italy is fourth in the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's charts
for life expectancy with 82.6 years in 2016, the OECD said in
its Health at a Glance report for 2017.
The OECD said this raised various challenges linked to
ageing.
For example, it said, Italy has the second-highest rate of
dementia among the countries assessed, equal to 2.3% of the
population in 2017.
This is expected to rise to 3.4% by 2037, the OECD said.
The report said Italy must "improve healthcare spending
efficiency", stating that Italy is one of the "worst" in terms
of introducing generic pharmaceuticals, with an 8% value and 19%
volume.
It said healthcare spending in Italy is equivalent to 3,391
dollars per person, which is, however, slightly lower than the
OECD average.
It said one way Italy could decrease spending would be by
reducing antibiotic prescriptions, which it said is the
fourth-highest of all OECD countries, by introducing prevention
strategies for antimicrobial resistance.
Despite this cited inefficiency, the report said Italy offers
universal health coverage that is "generally high quality" with
costs that are generally lower than other OECD countries, and
only 4.8% of Italians foregoing a medical consultation due to
cost.
The report said regional disparities in Italian healthcare
continue to be worrisome, with "southern regions historically
unable to provide adequate service as defined on a national
level".
In terms of obesity, it said Italy has one of the lowest
rates among the adult population, at 10.3%, but that obesity
rates among adolescents in Italy are on the rise.
It said Italy is "near the OECD average" for other risk
factors such as cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption, but
said in general that "halving consumption of cigarettes and
alcohol would increase life expectancy by 13 months".
In all OECD member countries, life expectancy at birth has
increased by more than 10 years since 1970, now standing at an
average of 80.6 years, with Japan leading at 83.9 years,
followed by Spain and Switzerland tied at 83 years.
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