section_path: Demographics/Health
section_name: Health
paragraph_text: Health
  
  Norway was awarded first place according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI) for 2013. From the 1900s, improvements in public health occurred as a result of development in several areas such as social and living conditions, changes in disease and medical outbreaks, establishment of the health care system, and emphasis on public health matters. Vaccination and increased treatment opportunities with antibiotics resulted in great improvements within the Norwegian population. Improved hygiene and better nutrition were factors that contributed to improved health.
  
  The disease pattern in Norway changed from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases and chronic diseases as cardiovascular disease. Inequalities and social differences are still present in public health in Norway.
  
  In 2024 the infant mortality rate was 2.1 per 1,000 live births among children under the age of one. For girls it was 1.7 and for boys 2.4, which is the lowest infant mortality rate for boys ever recorded in Norway.