Poverty levels have exploded in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, according to a report by the World Health Organization published Sept. 17.
It said the number of people living on less than $4 a day (4.15 euros) in those countries had risen from 3.3 percent to 46 percent in about 10 years.
The European Health Report 2002, which analyzes health and poverty data and measures taken in 10 Eastern European WHO members, was the basis for talks between 300 delegates from 51 WHO member states in Copenhagen this week.
The report showed "a clear relationship" between life expectancy and gross domestic product per capita, citing as a "striking example" the widening gap in life expectancy between and within high- and low-income countries.
"On average, people in the former U.S.S.R. die 10 years younger than those in Western European countries," the report said, adding there was "practically no precedent for changes of this magnitude in peace time".
The head of the WHO's regional office for Europe, Marc Danzon, noted however that poverty "affected all countries in the European region of 870 million inhabitants, including Western Europe where about 10 percent of the population live below the poverty line."
"This report provides governments with comparative figures in order to be able to create policies permitting them to protect the health and well-being of the population," he told AFP.
He called on WHO member states to "invest in health, because such an investment will be profitable and will have repercussions on society as a whole".
He recalled that "one of the fundamental priorities for improving health was to reduce inequalities linked to socio-economic factors."
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