Hypertension, chronic lung disease and diabetes are the most frequent conditions among Croatia's older population, according to data which the Institute of Public Health presented on Thursday on World Health Day.

The data were collected as part of Eurostat’s Morbidity Statistics project. They show that nearly one third of Croatia’s population has hypertension, including eight in ten people aged over 65. One in ten people over 65 suffer from chronic lung disease.

Nearly 10 percent of the population suffer from diabetes, including one in four among those over 65. Mood disorders have been diagnosed in 6.6 percent of the population, in 8.7 percent of women and 4.4 percent of men, and they are diagnosed the most among women over 50. Anxiety disorders affect 16.7 percent of women and 8.3 percent of men, and are especially frequent among women over 50.

Arthrosis has been diagnosed in 10.8 percent of the population, ischemic heart disease in 5.8 percent and cerebrovascular disease in 2.9 percent. The prevalence of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in those over 60 is 2.9 percent and it is twice as high among women over 70.

The data refer to the 2015-17 period and were collected between 1 March 2019 and 1 September 2020. The countries which participated in the project were Croatia, Belgium, Germany, Finland, France, Hungary, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, and Poland.