The report, which the Center for Epidemiology and Community Medicine is behind, shows how public health has developed over the past four years. Both life expectancy and self-rated health have increased, but at the same time the report shows that the development of life expectancy was temporarily broken during the pandemic.

Health is linked to education

There are also clear differences in life expectancy and disease incidence in the county between different groups, something that is linked to education and income. People with post-secondary education are expected to live 5.5 years longer than people who have not completed upper secondary school. The latter also have a 3.5 times higher risk of stroke and a 2.6 times higher risk of heart attack. But in Stockholm County, the general level of education is high and it has increased for a long time.

Smoking is decreasing – but e-cigs among young people are increasing

Smoking among residents has decreased from 18 percent in 2002 to six percent in 2021. On the other hand, the use of e-cigarettes among students in grade 9 has increased sharply – from five percent in 2021 to 20 percent in 2022. In addition, unhealthy eating habits seemed to increase in the county. As an example, every second man neglects to eat fruit and one in three women neglects to eat vegetables every day.

Hear more about public health in the county in the video above.