Malta had the lowest proportion of people reporting a long-standing limitation in activities due to health problems in 2015, an EU-wide report released today has shown.

Last year, a quarter (25.3%) of people aged 16 or over in the EU reported long-standing limitations, that is some or severe long-standing limitation in usual activities due to health problems. This means that they feel limited in performing everyday activities, such as studying at school, occupational activities, housekeeping or participating in leisure activities for six months or longer.

The lowest proportions of self-perceived long-standing limitations in usual activities were reported in Malta (9.7%) and Sweden (11.1%), and the highest in Latvia (38.4%), Portugal (36.1%), Croatia (35.1%), Estonia (35.0%), and in Austria/Finland (both 33.1%).

In 2015, women were more likely to report long-standing limitations than men. In the EU, a gap of 4.5 percentage points can be observed between the share of long-standing limitations among women (27.5%) and men (23.0%). Moreover, the reported long-standing limitation tends to decrease with the level of income. Almost a third (31.2%) of the poorest (i.e. the 20% of the population with the lowest income) in the EU reported long-standing limitations in usual activities, compared with 17% of the richest.

This information was issued by Eurostat on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities marked tomorrow.

In all EU states, the share of women reporting long-standing limitations was higher than men, with the widest gaps being observed in Portugal, the Netherlands and Romania. In contrast, the situation was more balanced between genders in Germany, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta.