In 1996, collaboration began between NOMESCO and the Working Group on Health of the Barents Euro-Arctic Region. A health Statistics Working Group was established with a view to develop some health statistics indicators for the Barents Region.

A draft of the tables was discussed for the first time at a meeting on February 17-18 1997 in Rovaniemi, and the results from the data collection were discussed at a meeting on November 25 1997 in Rovaniemi, where a number of corrections for the collected data were agreed. This publication presents the results from the data collection.

The report covers the following: Organization; Population and Vital Statistics; Diseases; Treatment; Mortality; Capacity.