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Yugoslavia HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL WELFARE
Before World War II, medical care in Yugoslavia was generally
very poor. The country had only one physician for every 750 urban
residents; in rural areas, the ratio was almost twenty times
worse. In 1990, despite overall strides in the nation's healthcare system, a wide disparity remained between urban and rural
areas in the delivery of health care.
Disease and Mortality
The most frequent causes of death in Yugoslavia in 1984 were
diseases of the circulatory system (45.2 percent of total deaths
for men and 56 percent for women) and cancer (16.1 percent for
men, 13.3 percent for women). Death from circulatory diseases was
more than twice as likely in the country's developed regions as
in the less developed areas, while in Kosovo the share of
infectious diseases still accounted for 7.8 percent of male
deaths and 10.1 percent of female deaths in the 1980s. Increasing
environmental pollution and cigarette smoking possibly were
reflected in a steep increase in deaths from cancer and
circulatory problems between 1975 and 1986. Accidents, especially
traffic accidents, accounted for 41.2 deaths per 100,000
inhabitants, while the suicide rate rose by almost a quarter
between 1975 and 1989.
Data as of December 1990
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