Health Cooperation in Norway's adjacent areas

Since the beginning of the 1990s Norway has been involved in a broad cooperation with its adjacent areas. This cooperation is concentrated around the Barents region and the countries around the Baltic Sea. The cooperation has also been strengthened through the establishment of "the Northern Dimension", which includes the European Union, Russia, Norway and Iceland.

The differences in health quality in Norway's adjacent areas are relatively large. While expected mortality age in Norway is 77 years for men and 82 years for women, the figures for Russia are 58 and 72 respectively. The situation in the Baltic states and Poland is much better, but still worse than in Norway. Some of the difference is due to lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption, smoking and consumption. The occurrence of infectious diseases is also high, and the situation regarding hiv/aids, tuberculosis and resistent tuberculosis is particularly alarming. Birth rates are low, and the population is decreasing.