Publications and articles

Disability-free life expectancy is basically an extension of the well-knownconcept of life expectancy. Life expectancy shows the number of years that aperson of a particular age can expect to live considering current mortality, thatis, the age- and sex-specific mortality rates. If additionally the share ofpopulation in a healthy or unhealthy condition in different age groups isconsidered, we can determine the number of healthy life years, as a way toqualify life expectancy estimates.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the OECD and Eurostatare pursuing work on measuring sustainable development with the aim ofpromoting policies that would ensure the sustainability of society and thewelfare of people. OECD launched Your Better Life Index in May 2011 andpublished the report “How’s Life?” in October, on the basis of which it ispossible to compare the well-being of people in different countries in elevencategories. This article gives an overview of these internationally developedwell-being indicators. The aim is to explain why these specific indicatorsmeasure well-being the best and what data sources are used to produce theseindicators.

Being healthy is one of the most valuable aspects of human life, also affecting the ability to findwork and income, to participate in social activities. However, health status is a difficult thing tomeasure, because health is largely a matter of internal perception and personal viewpoint. WorldHealth Organisation (WHO) defines health as a “state of complete physical, mental, and socialwell-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. When we examine this definitionof health, we can see that health has physical, social and mental components. Nearly allpopulation health indicators are used to measure primarily physical health. Such an approach isunderstandable, as assessment of social and mental health aspects would be quite complicateddue to close interconnections between different influences and factors. In addition, mental andsocial aspects are strongly dependent on the personality and valuations of each individual, whilephysical health indicators are generally measurable without taking into account the valuations ofindividuals.

What exactly is health? According to the definition stated in 1948 by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), health is “a status of complete physical, mental and social well-being andnot merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. In other words, human health status is a rathersubjective matter. Health is not the purpose of life, but means for daily living (Rahvastiku …2008). Only the people themselves can best know and assess their health. Meanwhile, peoplewith similar health status may provide quite dissimilar assessments of their health.