Helsinki residents healthiest in Finland

On average, residents of Helsinki are healthier than other Finns, and endemic diseases are less common than throughout the country as a whole, said the City of Helsinki in a press release on Tuesday.

There are, however, significant differences in morbidity between the districts of Helsinki.

The morbidity and endemic disease indices describe how healthy or sick the population of a specific city or area is in relation to the entire country’s average, which is signified by the figure 100.

In Helsinki, the morbidity and endemic disease indices are lower than the country’s average. In 2019, Helsinki’s morbidity index was 87 and the endemic disease index was 80.

As regards individual endemic diseases, only psychoses were at the level of the entire country’s average among the population of Helsinki. The other six endemic diseases are rarer than in the rest of Finland.

There is a lot of variations in the morbidity and endemic disease indices between the districts of Helsinki. In some districts, the indices are higher than the country’s average, and in others, the indices are well below the general levels.

Overall, 81% of the population of Helsinki districts lived in areas where morbidity was below the index for the entire country.

The morbidity indices were higher than the country’s average in seven districts only. Correspondingly, 89% of the population of Helsinki districts lived in areas where the endemic disease index was below the index for the entire country. The endemic disease index was above the country’s average in four districts only.

The information of the statistics were based on materials provided by Kela, the Social Insurance Institution of Finland.

The endemic disease index, in turn, indicates the prevalence of endemic diseases among the regional population in proportion to the population of the entire country. Based on prevalence, the following are regarded as endemic diseases among Finns: diabetes, psychosis, heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, hypertension, and coronary artery disease.