Archive:Disability statistics - health

This article provides information on persons that are facing health problems or difficulties in basic activities based on data of the 2011 ad-hoc module of the EU Labour Force Survey (LFS AHM). It gives an overview of the various types of longstanding health problems and basic activity difficulties and the shares of persons affected. The information supplied covers 31 countries (the EU-28 Member States, Turkey, Iceland, and Switzerland).

The proportion of persons having a longstanding health problem or a basic activity difficulty is measured against the total number of persons surveyed in the 2011 EU-LFS AHM which surveys individuals of working age, i.e. aged between 15 and 64 years. When reference is made to “the population”, it should be understood as the population of this age class. The prevalence is expressed as a percentage or as the number of cases per 100 persons.

Main statistical findings

28% affected by a longstanding health problem and/or a basic activity difficulty

Around 28% of all persons aged between 15 and 64 years old in the EU-28 reported a longstanding health problem or a basic activity difficulty, or both. At country level, this share may be as low as 14% in Greece and Ireland and, in contrast, exceeds 50% in France or Finland.

Persons reporting a basic activity difficulty only are relatively few: less than 2% of the population in three-quarters of the countries declared this characteristic in 2011; Austria and Luxembourg deviated most from this pattern, with 5.2% and 4.0%, respectively (see Figure 1). Conversely, longstanding health problems are far more frequent: at the level of the EU-28, 14.2% of the population was concerned, ranging between a comparatively low 3.8% in the Netherlands to a considerable 33.5% in Finland. Reporting both a longstanding health problem and difficulties with basic activities (which may indeed be interrelated) are relatively frequent in Finland and France, declared by a fifth of the working-age population, whereas low shares (5% or less) were reported in Ireland and Malta.

‘Multiple problems’ dominate among the 55-64 year olds

As can be expected, the share of people declaring having a longstanding health problem and/or a basic activity difficulty increases with age. Whereas the working-age population reporting no health-related problems and basic activity problems whatsoever was 87% among the 15-24 year olds at the level of the EU-28, it gradually decreased to 50% among the 55-to-64 year olds.

Moreover, the share of respondents declaring ‘multiple problems’, i.e. longstanding health problem combined with a basic activity difficulty, increases with age: still at the level of the EU-28, this share was expectedly low for the 15-24 year olds (3.4%) and increased fast after the age of 45 to reach 27.1% among the 55-64 year olds. For the age classes under the age of 55, the shares of persons declaring a longstanding health problem only was the most important, be it by only a small margin for the 45-54 year olds.

Looking at the gender differences and disregarding age, a slightly higher proportion of women reported a longstanding health problem, difficulties with basic activities, or both (29.5% of women against 26.7% for men). The most noticeable difference, relatively speaking, is observed for the category “longstanding health problem and a basic activity difficulty” with 13.2% for women against 11.1% for men.

Eight out of 100 persons in EU-28 had to cope with back or neck problems

In the EU-28, the most frequently mentioned longstanding health problem is “Problems with the back or neck”. Indeed, about eight out of 100 people declared having this problem. Conversely, less than 2 out of 100 declared suffering from “Depression”, “Diabetes” or “Severe headaches” (see Figure 3).

However, the pattern varies at country level. While problems with the back and neck (which includes arthritis or rheumatism) is the main longstanding health problem mentioned in the majority of the countries (20 out of 31 countries – and notably reported by a fifth of the population in Finland, France and Austria), problems linked to “Heart, blood pressure or circulation” are most often mentioned in the remaining 11 countries (data not shown).

Among the less frequently mentioned categories, “Chest or breathing problems (including asthma and bronchitis)” and “Problems with arms or hands” as well as “Problems with legs and feet (including arthritis or rheumatism)” were most reported in Finland (6.8% and 9.4%, respectively while the highest prevalence of “Diabetes” was in Malta (3.3%) and Turkey (3.9%). Persons in Portugal and Finland were most affected by “Depression” (3.3% and 3.2% respectively, the EU-28 average being 1.4%).

Men more affected by diabetes and blood circulation problems, women by severe headaches

There appear to be gender specificities in certain health problem categories: in each longstanding health problem category, and at the level of the EU-28, women are more represented, except for “Diabetes” and “Heart, blood pressure or circulation problems”. “Chest or breathing problems, including asthma and bronchitis” affect both genders equally. The largest gender gap is observed for “Severe headaches”, declared by 1.0% of the men but 2.6% of the women and “Problems with arms or hands” reported by 2.4% of men and 3.7% of women.

“Severe headaches” and “Depression” are not a matter of age

The occurrence of many longstanding health problem categories increases with age. A very regular increase with age is observed for back and neck problems and, at a lesser degree, also for problems with legs or feet and arms or hands (see Figure 5).

It may neither be surprising that problems with the heart, blood pressure or circulation problems as well as diabetes rapidly increase in the 55-64 age category. In contrast, longstanding severe headaches have mostly been reported by persons aged 35 to 44; the percentages being lower for the two older age classes. Similarly, most persons suffering from depressions were found among the 45 to 54 year olds.

Among the youngest (age class 15-24), “Chest or breathing problems including asthma and bronchitis” and back or neck problems were most frequently mentioned (2.2% of the respondents for each category).

Basic activity difficulties: Lifting and carrying difficulties affected 5 persons out of 100 in EU-28

Compared with the longstanding health problems, the prevalence of basic activity difficulties is generally smaller. Among the working-age population, most survey respondents, 5.0% at the level of the EU-28 level, reported having a problem with lifting and carrying. Individual country results ranged between 1.2% in Ireland and 10.5% in Latvia (country data not shown). This then should come as no surprise as among the longstanding health problems, back and neck problems were most frequently mentioned.

With 3.8% at EU-28 level, the second most frequently mentioned difficulty concerned “Walking, climbing steps”. For the latter difficulty, values among the individual EU Member States ranged between 1.9 in Ireland and 7.3% in Luxembourg. Beyond the EU borders, a share of 9.8% was reported by Turkey.

Noticeable are some national particularities: in France, the highest prevalence was reported for difficulties with sitting or standing (5.6%); for Romania this was difficulties with “Seeing, even if wearing glasses” (3.5%). Among the categories with low occurrences at EU-28 level, comparatively high shares were reported by France for “Hearing, even if using a hearing aid” (4.7%), by Iceland for “Remembering, concentrating” (4.7%) and by Estonia for “Seeing, even if wearing glasses” (5.1%).

Only hearing problems more often reported by men

In terms of gender differences, the overall picture appears clearer than for the main longstanding health problems as for each main basic activity difficulty, more women were concerned, with the notable exception of “Hearing, even if using hearing aid”. The highest gender gap was for “Lifting and carrying” with a difference of 1.2 percentage points.

Remembering and concentrating: a concern for the younger

As for longstanding health problems, the number of persons with basic activity difficulties increases with age. Also, the increases are strongest in the two oldest age classes. More noticeable is the fact that “Remembering and concentrating”, although a lesser problem in absolute terms, appears to be an issue among the youngest: with 1.3% for the 15-24 year olds, the value is slightly higher than for the following age class (1.2% for 25-34 years old).

Data sources and availability

The main data source used for this publication is the European Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). It is a quarterly, large sample survey providing results for the population in private households in the EU, Turkey, Iceland, and Switzerland.

The EU-LFS included an ad-hoc module (AHM) on employment of disabled people in 2002 and 2011. The aim of these modules was to provide information on the situation of disabled people on the labour market as compared to those without disabilities.

Concepts and definitions:

• Longstanding means that the health condition or disease has lasted or is likely to last for at least 6 months. The main characteristic of a longstanding health condition or disease is that it is permanent and may be expected to require a long period of supervision, observation or care.

• An activity is defined as: ‘the performance of a task or action by an individual’ and thus basic activity difficulties are defined as ‘the difficulties the individual experience in performing a basic activity (seeing, hearing, lifting, bending, etc'. The length of difficulty must have lasted or be expected to last for six months or more.

Context

There is a considerable demand for policy-relevant statistics on disability at the level of the EU, deriving especially from the European Disability Strategy (2010-2020). The European Commission is active in the streamlining of information on disability collected through EU social surveys (EU-SILC, LFS AHM, EHIS), the development of a specific survey on barriers for social integration of disabled people and the presentation of a set of indicators to monitor their situation with reference to key Europe 2020 targets for education, employment and poverty reduction.

Several needs were identified from the users: examining the existing situation; identifying any possible domains or issues where improvements would be required; highlighting successful policies and making suggestions for policies which need to be developed further.

The 2011 Labour Force Survey Ad Hoc Module on Employment of People with Disabilities is in line with the EU 2020 strategy and aimed answering to user needs. The data collected notably provides a monitoring of the gaps related to the three aforementioned domains (education, employment and poverty reduction) and a clear picture of the employment of disabled people.

Furthermore, it can be noticed that the 2011 module aimed to implement, as far as possible, the concept of disability as defined by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, WHO, 2001), also called the biopsychosocial model. According to this concept, disabled persons are those who face barriers to participation in any life activity areas, associated with a health condition or basic activity difficulty.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

• Statistical analysis and publication of the results of the 2011 Labour Force Survey ad hoc module on employment of disabled people.

Database

• Disability (hlth_dsb), see:

* Prevalence of disability (source LFS) (hlth_dsb_prv)

Methodology / Metadata

• Employment of disabled people (EU-LFS ad-hoc module 2011) (ESMS metadata file - ……..)

• Background articles in Statistics Explained

Other information

• Commission Regulation (EU) No 317/2010 of 16 April 2010 adopting the specifications of the 2011 ad hoc module on employment of disabled people for the labour force sample survey provided for by Council Regulation (EC) No 577/98.

Notes

[[Category:<Health>|Disability statistics - health]] [[Category:<Population>|Disability statistics - health]] [[Category:<Statistical article>|Disability statistics - health]]