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Health disparity continuing to grow in Denmark
Christian Wenande
May 23rd, 2016
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This article is more than 8 years old.
Documentary reveals that education and income strongly impact when Danes die
The disparity between the wealthy and poor in Denmark is becoming more and more obvious.
That disparity is never more evident than when examining the nation’s health system, a new DR documentary has revealed.
The documentary, titled ‘En syg forskel’ (‘A sick difference’), has uncovered that certain parameters – such as education and income – have a considerable impact on how ill Danes become and when they die.
“There is a ten-year difference between the richest and poorest part of the population in terms of how long we live,” Knut Borch-Johnsen, the deputy head of Holbæk Sygehus and one of the sources in the documentary, told DR Nyheder.
“Out of everything we see, this is one of the most significant developments.”
READ MORE: New report: Wealth disparity in Denmark continues to grow
Alarming Aalborg
The four-part documentary, airing its first episode tonight on DR1 tonight at 20:45, conveys the disparity by visiting two different parts of Aalborg; Hasseris, one of the more wealthy districts in Aalborg, and Aalborg Øst, which mostly consists of social housing.
Analysing over 10,000 people living in the two districts, just seven kilometres apart, revealed startling differences. On average, the citizens of Aalborg Øst had a life expectancy 13 years lower than the average citizen in Hasseris and they were less healthy overall.
Moreover, citizens of Aalborg Øst contact their general practitioners 56 percent more often than residents of Hasseris do.
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