A Method for the Evaluation of Health Trends in Greece, 1961–2013

Abstract

The period 1961–2013 is of great importance in Modern Greek History. In the 1960s several efforts at reform were followed by a period of political turmoil and finally the dictatorship of the Colonels in April 1967. The country returned to democratic normality in 1974. In 1981 Greece became a full member of the European Union and until 2008 followed a more or less developmental course. Then, the economic crisis caused the rapid decrease of GDP and the aggravation of the socio-economic characteristics of the population because of the austerity policies which were applied. The scope of this paper is to analyze the health levels of the population of the country during that period with the application of a newly proposed method for the calculation of healthy life expectancy. Results indicate the rapid improvement of health of the Greek population; however there is some first evidence of the effects of the economic crisis on population health.