Socio-economic conditions and factors and their effect on population’s health, as possible
causes for emerging of health problems, are subject of intensive research in many countries
worldwide.
In the mid 20th century dominated the public-health idea that the host, the environment
and the agent are equally responsible for the disease occurrence. Host’s factors are: age,
sex, lifestyle, genetic predisposition, education, professional status, personality. The global
health of the population primarily depends on the genetic and social factors, risky behaviour
and health service development. The risk of disease is different in different socio-economic
population’s groups. People with higher socio-economic status have lower risk of disease and
suffer from chronic diseases in the old age. In lower socio-economic status groups, in addition
to the chronic non-infectious diseases dominate the acute infectious diseases, poverty, high
mortality rate in newborns and early death (1).
Determinants of the individual’s position in the social hierarchy are the education level,
the profession and the incomes. The education is the most significant cause, of all other
determinants (financial situation, incomes, social status, political, cultural and economical
power, ethnicity, etc.), for the different health conditions in different socio-economic groups
(2).
The actual economic situation in R. Macedonia unfavourably influences on the living
standard. The low economic development causes a stagnation in the social development and
investment in the population health.