Press Release 30/09/2024

STATISTICAL OVERVIEW OF OLDER PERSONS. 2024

Over the last 30 years, older people in the Basque Country have increased the amount of time they spend on personal care and reduced the amount of time they spend on leisure

The population aged 65 and over scored 7.16 out of 10 for satisfaction with life in 2023

Older people residing in the Basque Country increased the amount of time they spend on personal care to just over half the day in 2023 (13 hours and 14 minutes), which is almost an hour more than in 1993 (12 hours and 15 minutes), according to data prepared by Eustat for the International Day of Older Persons celebrated on Tuesday 1 October.

Furthermore, the amount of time spent on passive leisure (i.e. activities such as reading newspapers or books, listening to music, visiting museums, etc.) in this group has dropped by 31 minutes over the last 30 years, going from 4 hours and 16 minutes in 1993 to 3 hours and 45 minutes in 2023. Likewise, the amount of time spent on household chores fell by 25 minutes (to 2 hours and 51 minutes) and the amount of time spent socialising decreased by 18 minutes (to 43 minutes) in this period.

In 2023, there was unequal participation in activities among the population aged 60 and over in the Basque Country. From this point of view, the order of activities was as follows: personal care, in which the entire population participated (100%), passive leisure (97.3%), household chores (94.5%), travelling (84.6%), active leisure and sports (71.2%) and socialising (53.7%) and, at the bottom of the list, caring for household members (15.9%) and work and training activities (12.6%).

The participation rates of older men and women were different in some activities. Specifically, men had a higher rate of participation in active leisure and sports than women, at 77% and 66.5% respectively, a difference of 10.5 percentage points. A greater proportion of women participated in socialising (56.3%) than men (50.6%), with a difference of 5.7 percentage points, as well as in caring for household members (17.3% and 14.1%, respectively), with a difference of 3.2 percentage points.

The activities that the older population spent the most time on were personal care and passive leisure

The population aged 60 and over in the Basque Country spent 13 hours and 14 minutes, just over half the day, on activities related to personal care, which are those relating to self-maintenance and self-care such as eating, sleeping, washing, going to the doctor, etc.

This age group spent 3 hours and 55 minutes performing daily tasks. This is the time committed to paid work and training, on which they spent 47 minutes, and, in particular, unpaid work, on which they spent 3 hours and 8 minutes. Unpaid work includes household chores, which consist of preparing food, washing and ironing clothes, shopping, looking after plants and animals (2 hours and 51 minutes); and also includes caring for household members (17 minutes).

The population aged 60 and over dedicated a quarter of the day to free time (6 hours and 2 minutes), including leisure (5 hours and 19 minutes) and socialising (43 minutes). Leisure includes: active leisure and sports, i.e. physical activity, sports games and outdoor walks, as well as activities using a computer or the internet for leisure (1 hour and 34 minutes); and also includes passive leisure, i.e. reading newspapers or books, listening to the radio or music, visiting museums, attending various shows, dance, sculpture and painting (3 hours and 45 minutes).

Older people spent more time on personal care, passive leisure and household chores than the rest of the population

The average time the population aged 60 and over spent on personal care was 13 hours and 14 minutes, while the population groups aged 16-34 and 35-59 spent a shorter, and very similar, amount of time on these activities (11 hours and 57 minutes and 11 hours and 35 minutes, respectively).

The average time spent on household chores by people aged 60 and over was more than twice the amount of time (2 hours and 51 minutes) spent on this activity by people aged between 16 and 34 (1 hour and 19 minutes) and slightly longer than the time spent by the 35-59 age group (2 hours and 12 minutes).

As regards the average time dedicated to passive leisure, older people stood out for being the group that devoted the most time to this activity (3 hours and 45 minutes), approximately twice as much time as the youngest group aged 16-34 (1 hour and 36 minutes) and the group aged 35-59 (2 hours and 2 minutes).

The amount of time older people spend on daily duties has decreased by 28 minutes over the last 3 decades

The population aged 60 and over in the Basque Country spent 4 hours and 23 minutes performing daily duties in 1993 compared to 3 hours and 55 minutes in 2023. In other words, the amount of time spent on these activities has decreased by 28 minutes over the last 30 years. The time spent on paid work and training dropped from 1 hour in 1993 to 47 minutes in 2023 (-13 minutes).

Lastly, the amount of time devoted to unpaid work was down 15 minutes, due to the increase in time spent caring for household members (+10 minutes) and the decrease in time spent on household chores (-25 minutes).

The population aged 65 and over was less satisfied with life in general than the population as a whole

In 2023, people aged 65 and over in the Basque Country gave a score of 7.16 for satisfaction with life in general on a scale of zero to ten. This score was lower than the average for the population of the Basque Country, which stood at 7.34.

However, the population aged 65 and over scored 6.67 on the state of mind indicator, a higher score than the average (6.42) for the population as a whole in 2023.

Finally, older people expressed the greatest satisfaction with their leisure time, with an average score of 7.62, just over one point more compared to the population as a whole (6.55) and nearly 2 points more than the least satisfied people regarding this indicator, i.e. the 35-49 age group (5.70).

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62