Page 29 - IDEA Study 3 2015 Duchodova studie

Mental Health: Cognitive Ability Cognitive ability is measured by a memory recall test. The respondents were read a list of 10 common words in a random sequence. Approximately five minutes later, they were asked to repeat the words. A derived variable is generated indicating individuals with a good memory, who could recall at least four words. As in the previous graphs, graph 3.3 shows no shift in mental capacity around the statutory retirement age. Both men and women in Southern and Eastern European countries perform much worse than the rest of the sample. Czech men perform very similarly to men in Western Europe, while Czech women perform slightly less well than women in Western and Northern Europe. GRAPH 3.3 Retirement Decisions and Health Problems In the above graphs, we see that in all countries men and women are generally healthy around the statutory retirement age. Although the health indexes naturally decline with age, the decline is fairly smooth and there is no factual evidence that health deteriorates fast over a short time period. In other words, retirement decisions are very weakly related to real health conditions. This fact is further illustrated below by the share of the population that does not work despite being healthy in terms of their general heath, functional or mental abilities. Retirement and Chronic Diseases The graph 3.4 shows that despite not being affected by any chronic diseases, the majority of men and women retire at the statutory retirement age. In the Czech Republic, but also in Western, Eastern and Southern Europe, less than 20% of men without chronic health conditions continue to work after the age of 60. In the Nordic 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Percentage of Men with Good Mental Capacity Agegroup-men(years) Percentage of Women with Good Mental Capacity N N W W S N WW N N N W E S E S E S E W S E S E N WW E N Source: Data SHARE Page,gender,goodmemory ____________________________________________________________ P age, gender Source: Data SHARE Agegroup-women(years) Page,gender,goodmemory ____________________________________________________________ P age, gender N W S E S S E N W E S N W ES N W S E 27