England has suffered the sharpest decline in life expectancy improvement out of 20 European countries, according to a new study. And every one of the countries had seen life expectancy growth begin to fall, except Norway.
Ann Kristin Skrindo Knudsen has been a clinical psychologist and researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Public Health for over a decade, and was a co-author of the study. Here, she shares why Norwegian life expectancy is growing and what we can learn from the Scandinavians
I am not surprised that Norway has some of the best life expectancy in Europe. This has been the case for decades. In the 1960s, we had the highest life expectancy in the world. Since then we have been going down the ranking but that’s not a bad thing, it means that other countries are living longer, too.
The main reason for our longevity is that our cancer rates in Norway are very low. The reason? People just don’t smoke. Vapes aren’t a problem either; there are hardly any sales. In 1988, Norway became one of the first countries to introduce a national smoking ban. Smoking was banned in many places accessible to the general public, including offices. At the time, there wasn’t much backlash. Most people thought it was a good idea.
In 2004, this went even further, with a smoking ban in all public venues: bars, restaurants, and even bus stops. You can’t smoke inside and you can’t smoke in public outside either. It’s very cold in Norway so this has really reduced the smoking rate. These days, most people think it is disgusting. It’s more taboo.
Unfortunately, some of the younger generations who haven’t been part of the smoking ban discussions are starting to pick it up. They are not seeing the dangers as clearly as the older generations. Some are even smoking more than young people did five years ago. We’re a bit concerned about that, but we’re trying to monitor it.
Beyond smoking, lower alcohol consumption is another reason. Heavy drinking isn’t really a thing here.
Have you ever tried to buy a beer in Norway? Alcohol is heavily taxed so it’s very expensive. And it is hard to buy. There are time slots when it is legal to buy alcohol. If you want to drink you really have to plan ahead. Anything stronger than 4.5 per cent wine or beer can only be sold in special stores, which are only open until 6pm. No alcohol can be sold on Sundays either. Since Covid, a lot of these stores have closed down so there are even less of them.
We also don’t have a recommended limit of 14 units [this is how much the NHS recommends as a weekly upper limit]. We have actually never recommended drinking alcohol at all. We believe any amount of alcohol can increase the likelihood of cancer. This risk has really started to sink in with the public now.
In Italy, Spain and France, wine is part of everyday life but in Norway, most people only drink during celebrations; birthdays or Christmas. People have started to become slightly more continental in the past few decades, as more people travel and pick up different drinking habits, but alcohol doesn’t run that deeply culturally. It has not been a big part of everyday life for generations. There have been periods in history when alcohol was completely forbidden.
Beyond smoking and alcohol, our diet is similar to recommendations in the UK (we also have a “five a day” fruit and vegetable policy), but we do eat fish at least three times a week. The authorities are also trying to encourage us to eat more wholegrain and fibre to reduce any future health problems.
We have a lot of health advice in Norway, and most people follow it. There are always loud voices who don’t like the rules; they try and put people off, but eventually, it occurs to most people that these rules are a good thing. That’s because we have a lot of trust in our public institutions in Norway. We have a long history of trusting our politicians. We generally believe they are trying to do their best and protect us.
The welfare state is very strong; unemployment benefits equated to 60 per cent of your previous income for at least a year, and sick pay is 100 per cent pay for 16 days. After that, it is reduced but still has you covered for a year. We trust the state to look after us, even if we are not able to do it ourselves.
It means we also have some of the best care for the elderly in the world. We do not rely on nursing homes; the care for elderly populations is focused on sending nurses to their homes instead.
It isn’t all roses though. We have serious mental health concerns in Norway as levels of anxiety and depression rise. We also have rising levels of loneliness among the elderly. We may be good at dealing with the physical needs of the older population, but perhaps not the social ones.
There’s a stereotype that Norway is a very equal place, and that’s true. I think that is why we have such a high life expectancy: 83 years old. We have relatively low income differences and we have strong labour unions who are always fighting for equal wages. Richer people tend to live longer and we have a strong social safety net that ensures everyone has enough money to live. They might not be able to afford much but they can at least afford heating, electricity and food.
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