[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-108302-en":3,"doc-seo-108302-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},108302,16904993612988,"Olivia Brown","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd",8,"Research & Report","Tackling Noncommunicable Diseases in Kosovo to Enhance Human Capital and Economic Growth","Policy note analyzing the health and economic burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Kosovo and why prevention and management are essential. NCDs reduce human capital through early retirement, productivity and educational losses, and caregiving-related withdrawal from investment activities. Evidence highlights major risk factors including tobacco exposure, childhood overweight, and air pollution from coal plants, alongside rising cancer trends and significant mental health challenges. Financial impacts can reach hundreds of millions of EUR, threatening health-system sustainability.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nWORLD BANK GROUP  \nPOLICY NOTE  \nTackling noncommunicable diseases in Kosovo to enhance human capital and economic growth  \nMay 2023  \nKEY MESSAGES  \n1. The health and economic burden of NCDs represents a significant toll on Kosovo.  \n2. Enhancing prevention and management of NCDs is essential to reduce the NCDs burden.  \n3. Proactively addressing NCDs will foster human capital and economic growth.  \nTackling noncommunicable diseases in Kosovo  01   \nNoncommunicable diseases (NCDs) hamper the development of human capital for current and future generations  \nNCDs are chronic conditions that are often untreatable and require close monitoring to control the progression of the disease. They account for 70 percent of all deaths worldwide and directly affect countries’economies, as every 10 percent increase in mortality due to NCDs reduces economic growth by 0.5 percent.i NCDs have a direct and indirect impact that threatens the human capital of current and future generations (Figure 1) .  \nKosovo is a young state that benefits from a young population which plays a key role in the country’s European progression. Economic growth has outperformed neighboring peers, leading to significant reductions in poverty. Yet, the country remains with a high unemployment rate that calls for major investments in building skills and creating quality jobs to boost Kosovo’s human capital and economic growth.  \nThe threat NCDs pose to Kosovo’s progress calls for a proactive approach to address them. Protecting Kosovars from NCDswill promote healthier lives, accelerate economic growth, and reduce the financial burden on the health system.  \nFigure 1  \nSource: Adapted from Nikoloski et al 2021  \nDirect and indirect impact of NCDs on human capital  \nNoncommunicable  \ndiseases  \nDirect impact  \nIndirect impact  \nEarly retirement  \nProductivity loss  \nEducational  \nattainment  \nIntergenerational loss in education investment by diverting resources toward disease treatment  \nLower investment inhuman capital by doing unpaid work caring for the chronically ill  \nAbsenteeism  \nPresenteeism  \nSkill loss, loss in the overall economic growth  \nLoss of acquired ~~ ~~ experience in the world of work  \n02  \nTackling noncommunicable diseases in Kosovo  \nRisk factors for NCDs  \nBehavioral, metabolic, and environmental factors influence the development of NCDs. Behavioral factors are related to the individual’s behavior, for instance, smoking. Metabolic factors refer to alterations in parameters such body-mass index. Lastly, environmental factors are mainly attributed to air pollutants.  \nSmoking prevalence in Kosovo is at similar levels compared with Western Balkans peers, yet prevalence among men is the second highest in the region (48.9 percent), only behind North Macedonia (57.9 percent) .  \nSecond-hand smoke is widely prevalent, with around half of the population aged 13–15 years exposed to its harmful effects, higher than most of Kosovo’s aspirational peers (Figure 2) .  \nFigure 2 Prevalence of second-hand  \nsmoking at home  \nSource: GYTS 2017 or latest available.  \nAround a third of children aged 2–7 are at risk of being overweight. The prevalence of obesity among this age group is 2.3 percent, but higher among boys (2.7 percent) than girls (1 .4 percent) . The share of overweight boys and girls is higher with 10.9 and 5.9 percent, respectively.ii  \nAnnually, Kosovo’s two coal plants release over 7,500 tons of PM2.5 particles, the most  \ndamaging pollutant for health that affects human organs. Moreover, itis estimatedthat almost 400 premature annual deaths are attributed to air pollution, which accounts for up to 320 EUR million per year.iii  \nThe health and economic burden of NCDs  \nNCDs pose a major challenge to Kosovo’s health system and the population’s health. According to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics, since 2015, the major NCDs – circ","cbCaiieiZKVD7QQq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiieiZKVD7QQq","pdf",1302350,5,1,10,"English","en",105,"# Key messages\n# Noncommunicable diseases and human capital\n# Risk factors for NCDs\n## Tobacco exposure and childhood overweight\n## Air pollution\n# The health and economic burden of NCDs\n## Mortality patterns and cancer trends\n## Hypertension, diabetes, and mental health\n## Costs and financial sustainability","[{\"question\":\"Why are noncommunicable diseases a significant problem for Kosovo’s development?\",\"answer\":\"NCDs impose a major health and economic toll by reducing human capital through early retirement, productivity loss, and lowered educational investment, while also affecting Kosovo’s broader economic growth.\"},{\"question\":\"What key risk factors for NCDs are highlighted in the note?\",\"answer\":\"The note points to behavioral, metabolic, and environmental factors, including smoking and second-hand smoke, childhood overweight and obesity, and air pollution from coal plants.\"},{\"question\":\"How do NCDs affect Kosovo’s health system and economy financially?\",\"answer\":\"Direct and indirect costs threaten financial sustainability, with premature death and absenteeism driving most of the burden; a cost-of-illness analysis estimates up to 714.89 million EUR in 2023 for six NCDs.\"}]",1784470239,25,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"tackling-noncommunicable-diseases-in-kosovo-to-enhance-human-capital-and-economic-growth","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/tackling-noncommunicable-diseases-in-kosovo-to-enhance-human-capital-and-economic-growth/108302/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-30","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Why are noncommunicable diseases a significant problem for Kosovo’s development?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"NCDs impose a major health and economic toll by reducing human capital through early retirement, productivity loss, and lowered educational investment, while also affecting Kosovo’s broader economic growth.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"What key risk factors for NCDs are highlighted in the note?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The note points to behavioral, metabolic, and environmental factors, including smoking and second-hand smoke, childhood overweight and obesity, and air pollution from coal plants.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"How do NCDs affect Kosovo’s health system and economy financially?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"Direct and indirect costs threaten financial sustainability, with premature death and absenteeism driving most of the burden; a cost-of-illness analysis estimates up to 714.89 million EUR in 2023 for six NCDs.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,110,115,120,123,128,131,134],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":133},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":20,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]