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. 2011 Jan 4;589(Pt 5):1017–1030. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2010.201509

Figure 4. Life expectancy in East and West Germany, Poland and Sweden from 1950.

Figure 4

Of note is the rise in life expectancy in East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. There are complex reasons for the differences in these values and how they changed over time, but they demonstrate the power of political systems to influence health outcomes in relatively short periods of time. (Reproduced from J Epidemiol Community Health54, 890–898 (Nolte et al. 2000) with permission from BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.)