Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

50 victims of accidents both on the road and at work. Particularly for the latter, Cyprus has more deaths caused by accidents at work relative to the EU, with 2.3 and 1.8 deaths per 100,000 employees, respectively (see Figure 13). Once again though, a positive trend can be observed, with improvements in the indicators, mirroring the various work safety policies employed by Cyprus Governments over the years. NARRATIVE Overall, Cyprus ensures high standards of healthy living and well-being and performs well in key indicators, including life expectancy and low mortality rates due to chronic diseases. The vast majority of Cypriots perceive their health to be good or very good. In a major Government initiative, Cyprus rolled out its national healthcare system providing equal access to quality healthcare for all. During these challenging times of the pandemic, the Cyprus Government implemented policies and practices to mitigate the detrimental effects of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of the population. ANALYSIS In regards to healthy living, Cyprus ranks quite well amongst EU countries. In particular, life expectancy in Cyprus is 82.9 years, relative to 81 years in the EU as a whole. Interestingly enough, women in both Cyprus and the EU are expected to live longer than men by approximately 4 years. Additionally, 78% of Cypriots perceive their health to be good or very good, which places Cyprus in the 3 rd place, among EU countries. Another interesting fact is that while Cyprus is quite close to the EU average on smoking prevalence with 28% (the EU average is 27%), there is a considerable difference between men and women (see Figure 12). In particular, Cyprus ranks 21 st among EU countries in smoking prevalence in males (39% relative to the EU’s 32%), and 4th in smoking prevalence in females (17% relative to the EU’s 23%). Another important health determinant is exposure to air pollution. Even though Cyprus appears to be performing poorly relative to the EU, the observed negative trend (22.2 mg/m3 in 2010 to 13.4 mg/m3 in 2019 for particulates < 2.5 Mm) shows that efforts are being made to improve air quality. In regards to the main causes of death (chronic diseases, suicide, preventable and treatable diseases) Cyprus ranks in the top positions among EU countries with the number of deaths, per 100,000 persons from the aforementioned diseases being lower than the EU average. However, an exacerbation has been observed in some indicators for chronic diseases, like Tuberculosis, Malaria, and HIV due to the arrival of asylum seekers coming from highly infected areas. Another problematic area relates to the 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 Total Males Females % of population aged 15 or over Cyprus EU Figure 12.: Smoking prevalence Figure 13.: People killed in accidents at work Total Males Females number per 100.000 employees 0 1 2 3 4 Cyprus EU