Status: 11/02/2022 4:15 p.m
Statistically speaking, people in southern Germany live longer than in the north and west. That’s well known – but why is that? A study now shows that smoking behavior is likely to be the main reason.
The north-south divide in Germany in terms of general life expectancy can be largely explained by different smoking habits. That comes from one Study by the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) out.
Accordingly, the regional smoking-related lifetime loss in North Rhine-Westphalia for men is almost twice as high as in Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg: in the west it is 1.7 years, in the south only one year. According to the BiB, the results indicate that this factor explains the regional differences in life expectancy in Germany “to a large extent”.
The socially disadvantaged smoke more
According to the study, these are long-term consequences of different consumption behaviors that emerged during the mass spread of smoking in the last century. People smoked more in the north and especially in the west. The researchers see the reason for this in social and economic differences.
The results may seem surprising at first glance, as socioeconomic differences between regions are often used to explain regional differences in life expectancy. “But these explanations are not mutually exclusive,” says Sebastian Klüsener, research director at the BiB. “In recent decades, smoking has become increasingly concentrated in socially disadvantaged sections of the population. Economically weaker regions tend to have a higher proportion of smokers.”
Problem in women are exacerbated
According to the Federal Institute, a general west-east divide in life expectancy, which can also be read from the statistics, is only explained to a “smaller part” by regional differences in smoking behavior. “Other factors play an important role here, which can be explained, among other things, by the difficult transformation process with high unemployment after reunification,” says research group leader Pavel Grigoriev. According to the BiB, however, this could change in the future because more people smoked in East Germany after 1990.
According to their own statements, the experts are also concerned about the development of smoking among women. Among them, the habit spread later than among men. It is true that the life expectancy of women is still somewhat less affected by the negative consequences of smoking than is the case for men. However, the health effects in men due to changing smoking habits are already declining, while the effects in women continue to worsen. Again, this is especially true in the East.
Almost a year less from smoking
Without smoking-related mortality, life expectancy in Germany would be 0.9 years higher overall. The regional values vary between 0.6 and 1.3 years. The national average of 1.4 years of lost lifetime for men due to smoking. For women it is around 0.9 years. The analysis is based on evaluations of the official so-called mortality rates in connection with scientifically established estimation methods.