Southern Europe - greater longevity, despite illness: Although people in southern Europe live longer, Northern Europeans are healthier and richer. When looking at cross-country differences in general health, we find that the Danes, followed by the Swedes and Swiss, are the most satisfied: only 40 per cent believe that they are not in the very best of health, and the share of those who regard themselves as in poor or very bad health is even as low as ten per cent. Physical health problems are closely related to age throughout Europe. Disorders such as cataracts are experienced five times more often by the oldest-old, that is those aged 80 or over, than by people in the 50-59 age group. Women suffer from most complaints significantly more frequently than men. However, it is the 'stronger sex' which mainly suffers from potentially life-threatening illnesses such as diabetes or heart and lung diseases. Experts believe that one of the reasons for the greater health threats faced by men is their tendency to adopt riskier health behaviours, that is, smoking more and drinking more alcohol.
- Education keeps us fit: There are strong socio-economic disparities in physical health and health behaviours within all SHARE countries. For instance, compared to more highly educated elders, individuals with a lower formal education are 70 percent more likely to be physically inactive and 50 percent more likely to be obese. Everywhere, men are significantly more often overweight than women.
Education helps prevent cognitive impairment and depression: A strong relationship between health and socioeconomic status also holds for mental health. For instance, cross-country differences in cognitive function correspond closely to cross-country differences in education. Depression is more frequent among persons with low income or low wealth, particularly in the northern countries of Europe.
- Geriatric care needs improvement: SHARE is the first survey that includes comparable information about out-of-pocket payments for health care expenditures as well as health services utilisation and the quality of health care for older persons. In many respects, there appears to be much room for improvement. For example, from a preventive perspective, there is a serious lack of geriatric assessments and screening tests.
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- Some things you always wanted to know about older Europeans' economic situation
