ABSTRACT
The period from the Second World War until the present includes the development of most effective forms of diagnosis, treatment and preventive care. The health changes, together with other social change, significantly helped to reduce the proportion of the national population at younger ages and increase the older proportion. The profound impact of the rapid growth in effectiveness and understanding of health care, improvements in living standards and changes in health policy since the Second World War can be seen in changes in the chances of survival, expectation of years of life and disability-free years of life. The extensive changes in population structure and in health were influenced by improvements in living standards. Women were reluctant to give up wartime paid employment (Sheridan 1990). Daily life was one of scarcity and discomfort, with food rationing and shortages of fuel and housing. The consumption of tobacco has a very different history.
