WARSAW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Polish people are living longer, but the country is facing a negative birth rate problem, the Polish National Institute of Public Heath--National Institute of Hygiene (NIPH-NIH) said in a report published on Thursday.
The report said the average lifespan of Poles was 82 years for women and 74 years for men, compared to 2014 when the average lifespan of Poles was 81 and 73, respectively. But the average lifespan in Poland is still behind the European average, which was 83.6 for women and 78 for men.
The report listed the major causes of death as circulatory diseases, which were on the decline, and cancers.
The report also showed that the population of Poland had been gradually decreasing since 2011. The year 2015 was the first year after World War II that the country observed a negative birth rate both in cities and in the countryside.
The report also pointed out that around 5.3 percent of Poles -- around 1.5 million people over the age of 15 -- suffered from depression. Overweight or obesity problems concerned 68.2 percent of men and 60 percent of women.
The NIPH-NIH is the main governmental public health research institute. Reports on the state of public health have been published every four years since the 1970's.
