Table 1

Descriptive statistics of the sample (SHARE, wave 4, 2011, 16 countries)

Variables
GP visits*, median/25th centile/75th centile/mean (SD)3/2/6/5.08 (7.38)
Female, N (%)31 969 (56.10)
Age in years†, mean (SD)66.37 (10.05)
Education‡ (ISCED-1997 coding: 0=low – 6=high), mean (SD)2.77 (1.44)
 Preprimary1682 (2.95)
 ISCED-1997 code 1 (primary)10 943 (19.20)
 ISCED-1997 code 2 (lower-secondary)10 804 (18.96)
 ISCED-1997 code 3 (upper-secondary)18 751 (32.90)
 ISCED-1997 code 4 (postsecondary and non-tertiary)2597 (4.56)
 ISCED-1997 code 5 (first stage of tertiary)10 514 (18.45)
 ISCED-1997 code 6 (second stage of tertiary)454 (0.80)
Job status§, N (%)
 Employed14 736 (25.86)
 Retired35 207 (61.78)
 Unemployed1.821 (3,20)
 Permanently sick or disabled1.863 (3.27)
 Homemaker2265 (3.97)
Income: make ends meet¶, N (%)
 With great or some difficulty22 319 (39.16)
 Fairly easy or easy33 157 (58.18)
Self-rated health (0=poor to 4=excellent)**, mean (SD)1.74 (1.08)
 Poor7307 (12.82)
 Fair16 841 (29.55)
 Good19 754 (34.66)
 Very good9066 (15.91)
 Excellent3744 (6.57)
Social Integration Index (0=low to 6=high)††, mean (SD)3.55 (1.39)
Average of social contact frequency in social network (0=less than once per month or never to 5=daily)‡‡, mean (SD)4.07 (0.99)
Number of very to extremely close people in the social network (0–7)§§, mean (SD)2.16 (1.45)
Unweighted sample (number of observations)n=56 989
  • Missing values (out of 56 989): *7296, †5 , ‡1244, §1097, ¶1513, **277, ††1024, ‡‡4451, §§3385.

  • GP, general practitioner; ISCED, International Standard Classification of Education; SHARE, Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.