differences become smaller
One thing is certain: when it comes to health care and behavior in Germany, there are hardly any differences between the old and new federal states. A glance at life expectancy already suggests this: mean life expectancy for women at birth is 82.7 years and for men 77.7 years. In addition, since 2004, the report shows a steady decline in teenage smokers.
Mortality rates for most types of cancer have fallen, as well as mortality from coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke. However, the number of known diabetes diseases has increased since the first health report: a total of around 4.6 million adults between the ages of 18 and 79 suffer from diabetes mellitus. Adding the 1.3 million with unknown diabetes and those over 80 brings the total number of patients to approximately 6.7 million.