Spaniards 'extremely healthy' with longest female life expectancy in Europe

Mediterranean diet helps, but obesity in Spain is on the rise, warns United Nations

But the World Health Organisation has warned that Spanish adults are also among the fattest, with 23.7% of adults aged 18-plus being considered clinically obese last year – higher than in 2010 when they accounted for 22.1% of the country's population.

And Spaniards classed as medically overweight make up 60.9% of the native population – some 1.7% higher than five years ago.

The WHO says smoking and drinking alcohol could 'threaten the excellent work' of the population in general and medical services by reducing quality of health and life expectancy, although with Spain recording a higher-than-average consumption of alcohol and of smokers – officially, three in 10 adults in the country – as yet, neither seems to have shortened lives across the board.

Women in Spain have an average life expectancy of 85 and a half, having risen from 85 years and four-and-a-half months in 2010 – female Spaniards have gained an extra fortnight of life in the last five years.

Claudia Stein from the United Nations' Information, Evidence, Research and Innovation Division says Spaniards' health is 'extremely good' and that this is a combination of lifestyle, diet, and excellent medical services.

Men are now living longer than they were five years ago – from 79 years, two months and one week in 2010, their life expectancy is now 79 years and four-and-a-half months, meaning they have gained an extra five weeks of life in as many years.

Spanish women live the longest in Europe, although men live ninth-longest in the world behind the Swiss, Israelis, Cypriots, Icelandics, Italians, Swedes, Norwegians and Dutch.

All causes of mortality in Spain are descending in number of cases, and their incidence is 'in line with or below' the average for Europe as a whole.

The four greatest causes of non-contagious and non-infectious natural causes are cardiovascular – heart attacks and strokes, principally – cancer, diabetes and respiratory problems.

Their prevalence in men aged 30 to 70 is on the wane, and among women is the lowest on the continent.

According to the WHO, the general death rate from these illnesses is 2.212 people per 1,000 inhabitants, based upon data from 2012 which is the most recent available, and means Spain is the fourth country in the Europe with the lowest mortality rate from the top four causes – and in the two previous years, the incidence of death from cardiovascular problems, cancer, diabetes and respiratory conditions has gone down from 2.284 per 1,000.

Death through external, or non-natural causes – car crashes, falls, accidental poisoning, suicide, murder or aggravated assault, for example – is still below average and Spain is in the top 15 with the fewest deaths from these incidences.

Consumption of alcohol and cigarettes has fallen in line with the rest of Europe, although smoking at a slightly faster rate – in 2010, a total of 32.1% of Spanish adults smoked, compared with 31% in 2012.

Out of a list of 41 countries on and around the continent of Europe, Spain is 11^th for the highest number of smokers, with women being the worst offenders – 28.3% of women light up regularly, meaning Spain has the seventh-highest number out of the 41 countries of females who smoke, as opposed to 14th-highest for numbers of male smokers, who account for 33.8%.

Only Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece and Croatia have more female smokers among their populations than Spain, where the percentage of adult women who light up is the same as in the Czech Republic, or joint seventh.

Despite being one of the world's and Europe's healthiest countries, Spain's weight problem is 'a great concern' to the WHO, which says out of 51 nations, Spain is 9^th in the list of those with the most overweight natives.

In terms of clinical obesity rather than 'mere' excess bodyweight, Spain is not quite as badly off, but still comes 16^th out of 51.

Claudia Stein of the UN says: “Spain enjoys what we call the 'Mediterranean diet', with lots of olive oil and relatively few saturated fats, but the fact that obesity is on the rise is not just about diet – physical activity also counts, and this has reduced – especially in the younger generations.”

This news may come as unexpected, since Spain's 300-plus days of sunshine means the country has a much more outdoor culture than northern Europe, and sporting activities appear to be highly-prevalent in social and leisure time – from water sports and swimming in summer to skiing in winter, with others throughout the year that often take place in the open air.

But Ms Stein says sports are not nearly as commonly practised in Spain as may appear.

“If obesity continues to rise as it has up to now, it could put the great results achieved in health terms at risk,” she warns.

“That would be an unnecessary tragedy, since obesity – like smoking and drinking alcohol – are risks that can be avoided.”