Understanding recent mortality reversal in Central Europe: case of Czech Republic and Poland

The post communist transition brought along a significant decrease in mortality rates and improvement in health indicators in some Central European countries. That was the case of the Czech Republic and Poland, that witnessed sudden and systematic shift in life expectancy trends. Within two decades, from 1990 to 2009, life expectancies in both countries have increased considerably, by 5.8 years in the Czech Republic (reaching 77.3 for both sexes) and by 5.1 years in Poland (reaching 75.8). The aim of this paper is to present the most important tendencies in mortality by cause of death which allowed for this extension of life expectancies. We present a comparison to France where mortality rates remain at relatively low levels and that constitutes a good frame of reference. On the basis of the single cause-of-death time series restored for the period 1970-2009, it is possible to prove crucial importance of diseases of the circulatory system for the recent mortality developments in Czech Republic and Poland and to point at other specific health issues of the region.