The self-perceived high level of health quality of Europeans – spatial analysis of determinants

Figures & data

Table 1. Summary statistics (mean values, 2005–2018) of the share of people with good or very good perceived health in five age categories

Share of people with good or very good perceived health [as % of population]
Age category	16–24	25–44	45–64	65 or over
Mean	92,0	84,6	60,0	34,5
Median	91,9	85,6	64,2	34,7
Min	84,3	68,9	31,6	5,4
Max	98,3	93,8	78,4	65,2
Standard Deviation, SD	7,0	8,8	14,0	18,8
Coefficient of Variation	9%	11%	23%	54%
Skewness	−0,4	−0,9	−0,6	−0,2
Range [in p.p.]	14,0	24,9	46,8	59,9

n = 32, t = 19, N = 608, p.p. – percentage points.

Figure 1. Standard deviations in share of people perceived their health as very good or good in particular age categories in European countries in selected years (mean values, 2005–2018)

Note: we also investigated the differences between the self-assessed health quality for men and women, but the results did not reveal statistically significant gender differences (the outcomes are available via Author’s e-mail).

Figure 2. Time tendency of share of people perceived their own health as good or very good in particular age categories in 32 European countries in the years 2005–2018 [in %]

Table 2. Spatial autocorrelation of the share of people perceived their own health as good or very good measured by Moran’s I statistic, in years 2005–2018

Years	Aged 16–24	Aged 25–44	Aged 45–64	Aged 65 or over
2005	0.13	0.57***	0.58***	0.59***
2006	0.16	0.56***	0.58***	0.60***
2007	0.19	0.54***	0.58***	0.61***
2008	0.22*	0.42**	0.57***	0.62***
2009	0.32**	0.42**	0.56***	0.62***
2010	0.16	0.46***	0.56***	0.62***
2011	0.28*	0.44**	0.55***	0.65***
2012	0.20	0.38**	0.55***	0.65***
2103	0.21	0.33**	0.54***	0.65***
2014	0.08	0.31**	0.54***	0.64***
2015	0.18	0.28*	0.49***	0.67***
2016	0.16	0.28*	0.49***	0.67***
2017	0.20	0.19	0.51***	0.71***
2018	0.32**	0.16	0.47***	0.67***

Significance levels: α = 0.10*, 0.05**, 0.01***.

Table 3. Potential determinants of the share of people with good or very good perceived health

Potential determinants	Description [units]	Time span
EXP	Private households out-of-pocket on health as percentage of total health expenditure [%]	2005–2017
DIPR	The ratio of total income (as equivalised disposable income received) by the 20% of the population with the highest income (top quintile) to that received by the 20% of the population with the lowest income (lowest quintile), [%]	2005–2018
DIP	Adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita [PPS per capita]	2005–2018
HB	Hospital beds [per 100,000 inhabitants]	2005–2018
MD	Medical doctors [per 100,000 inhabitants]	2005–2018
INT	Households with access to the Internet at home [%]	2007–2018
CP	Consultations with physicians [per capita]	2005–2018
GDP	Gross domestic product [PPS per capita]	2005–2018
UNTE	Self-reported unmet needs for medical examination by main reason declared (too expensive) [%]	2008–2018
UNTF	Self-reported unmet needs for medical examination by main reason declared (too far) [%]	2008–2018
AI	Ageing index -the ratio of the number of elderly persons of an age when they are generally economically inactive (aged 65 and over) to the number of young persons (from 0 to 14) [%]	2005–2017
UNE	Unemployment of total labor force [%]	2005–2018
LUNE	Long-term unemployment rate [%]	2005–2018
EAP	Exposure to air pollution by particulate matter (particulates < 2.5 µm) of urban population [%]	2005–2017
GHG	Greenhouse gas emissions [tones of CO2 equivalent per capita]	2005–2017
CR	Intentional homicide – crime rate [per 100, 000 inhabitants]	2008–2017
MAWCH	Mean age of women at childbirth and at birth of first child [years]	2006–2018
CHE	Current health expenditure [% of GDP]	2005–2017
DPHE	Domestic private health expenditure [PPS per capita]	2005–2017
PAC	Pure alcohol consumption of age 15+, [litres per capita]	2005–2016
ANR	Average number of rooms [per capita]	2005–2018
HD	Hospital discharges [per 100,000 inhabitants]	2006–2017
EDU	Population by upper secondary, post-secondary non-tertiary and tertiary education (levels 3–8) [%]	2005–2018
FV	Daily consumption of fruit and vegetables of 18 years or over [kg per capita]	2014
ACT	Performing health-enhancing physical activity of 18 years or over [%]	2014
NW	Body mass index (BMI), normal weight of 18 years or over [%]	2014
OW	Body mass index (BMI), overweight of 18 years or over [%]	2014

we are aware that more factors on self-reported, clinical and local data of health of Europeans are also relevant in this analysis. However, the poor availability of regional statistics determined us to prepare of a survey to obtain this information in the future.

Table 4. Results of GWR modeling of the share of people with good or very good perceived health in total population in European countries for each age category

	SPH16-24				SPH25-44		SPH45-64				SPH65+
	CR	ANR	INT	HB	CR	PAC	CR	PAC	UNTF	EDU	CR	ANR	PAC
AT	−0.021		−0.14		−0.035	−0.067	−0.17	−0.26	−0.053		−0.32	1.92
BE			−0.13			−0.070	−0.16	−0.40	−0.048		−0.29	2.05	−0.61
BG	−0.022	0.059	−0.16		−0.041	−0.051	−0.19		−0.054		−0.44	1.43	−0.34
CH			−0.13			−0.073	−0.16	−0.34	−0.052		−0.27	1.93
CY	−0.021	0.06	−0.16		−0.041		−0.20		−0.057		−0.42	1.52	−0.35
CZ	−0.019		−0.15		−0.038	−0.068	−0.18		−0.053		−0.36	1.94	−0.68
DE	−0.017		−0.14		−0.035	−0.071	−0.17	−0.31	−0.052		−0.32	2.07	−0.82
DK	−0.018	0.063	−0.15		−0.038		−0.18	−0.32	−0.051		−0.33	2.13	−0.61
EE	−0.022	0.064	−0.17		−0.046	−0.050	−0.22		−0.058		−0.42	1.92	−0.49
ES			−0.12	0.03		−0.071	−0.17	−0.37	−0.053	0.53	−0.26	1.84	−0.48
FI	−0.021	0.066	−0.17		−0.044		−0.22		−0.057		−0.40	1.91	−0.47
FR			−0.12			−0.079	−0.15	−0.42	−0.049	0.46	−0.25	1.95
GB			−0.13			−0.065	−0.18	−0.36	−0.049	0.41	−0.30	2.07	−0.60
GR	−0.021	0.058	−0.15		−0.039	−0.051	−0.19		−0.056		−0.41	1.43	−0.33
HR	−0.019		−0.15		−0.036	−0.060	−0.17		−0.052		−0.36	1.66	−0.41
HU	−0.021		−0.15		−0.040	−0.059	−0.18		−0.052		−0.40	1.72	−0.46
IE			−0.13			−0.064	−0.18	−0.37	−0.048	0.46	−0.30	2.05	−0.59
IS		0.063	−0.15		−0.036	−0.054	−0.20	−0.31	−0.051	0.42	−0.35	1.99	−0.52
IT	−0.018		−0.14			−0.061	−0.16	−0.27	−0.053		−0.32	1.61
LV	−0.022	0.064	−0.17		−0.046	−0.051	−0.22		−0.059		−0.43	1.92	−0.51
LT	−0.023	0.063	−0.17		−0.047	−0.052	−0.21		−0.059		−0.43	1.90	−0.52
LU			−0.13			−0.071	−0.16	−0.38	−0.049		−0.29	2.04	−0.68
MT	−0.018		−0.14			−0.057	−0.17	−0.26	−0.056		−0.35	1.51	−0.34
NL			−0.13			−0.072	−0.17	−0.37	−0.049		−0.29	2.10	−0.74
NO	−0.02	0.066	−0.16		−0.042		−0.21		−0.055		−0.39	1.99	−0.51
PL	−0.022	0.059	−0.16		−0.044	−0.059	−0.19		−0.056		−0.41	1.91	−0.63
PT			−0.12	0.03		−0.067	−0.18	−0.36	−0.053	0.54	−0.29	1.85	−0.49
RO	−0.023	0.059	−0.16		−0.043	−0.052	−0.19		−0.054		−0.44	1.59	−0.39
SE	−0.021	0.066	−0.16		−0.043		−0.21		−0.056		−0.39	1.99	−0.52
SI	−0.019		−0.14		−0.035	−0.064	−0.17		−0.052		−0.35	1.77	−0.47
SK	−0.021		−0.16		−0.041	−0.059	−0.19		−0.054		−0.41	1.78	−0.51
TR	−0.022	0.061	−0.16		−0.042		−0.21		−0.057		−0.44	1.52	−0.35
	GWR R^2: 0.47–0.52				GWR R^2: 0.42–0.56		GWR R^2: 0.50–0.69				GWR R^2: 0.65–0.87
GWR diagnosis	OLS R^2:0.39				OLS R^2:0.390.45		OLS R^2:0.390.41				OLS R^2:0.390.60
	OLS AIC:-171.7				OLS AIC: −130.5		OLS AIC: −51.1				OLS AIC: −20.8
	GWR AIC: −190.7				GWR AIC: −140.9		GWR AIC: −57.3				GWR AIC: −23.4
	Moran’s I of OLS residuals: 0.38*				Moran’s I of OLS residuals: 0.18*		Moran’s I of OLS residuals: 0.26*				Moran’s I of OLS residuals: 0.25*
	Moran’s I of GWR residuals: 0.06				Moran’s I of GWR residuals: 0.08		Moran’s I of GWR residuals: 0.20				Moran’s I of GWR residuals: 0.19

All coefficients presented in the table are statistically significant at the significance level: α > 0.10; significance level of residuals: α = 0.10*, 0.05**, 0.01***;in the modeling, we selected the statistically significant determinants with VIF values that did notexceed2.5 and for which local multicollinearity problem was subsequently solved with principal components method (PCA) (Hervé & Williams, 2010); the correlation matrix, all results of VIF and principal components analysis are available by Author’s e-mail.

Hervé, A. L., & Williams, J. L. (2010). Principal component analysis. In Wiley interdisciplinary reviews: Computational statistics (Vol. 2, ppp.433–459). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc..

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