Summary:
The article deals with the relationship between the socio-economic level and selected indicators of popula-tion's health in a group of European countries; speciál attention is paid to the Czech Republic. Results of correlation analysis revealed intermediate to strong dependence of all indicators of population's health (life expectancy, standardized mortality rate, etc.) on the level of per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Human Development Index (HDI) highly correlated with all health indicators as well. In 2002, the Czech Republic was placed 32nd in a table of HDI for 177 countries of the world. GDP per capita was 15 780 USD p.p.p. (purchasing power parity) in the samé year. Total health expenditure as a percent of GDP has been 7.3% in recent years. The GINI indicator, which expresses a grade of income inequality, did not show a sta-tistical significant relation to indicators of population's health. All health indicators - except deaths due to traffíc accidents - improved in the Czech Republic in the period 1995 - 2003. Despite many unresolved pro-blems in health care financing, the Czech Republic displays sufficient economic potential for assuring high quality health care.
Key words:
socio-economic level, health indicators, Europe, Czech Republic
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