Az időskorúak egészségi állapota (1994)

BEVEZETŐ

INTRODUCTION In Hungary, the number and proportion of those of elderly age are growing gradually bringing forth numerous socioeconomic problems. In order to cope with these problems it is necessary to get acquainted with the situation and living conditions of the elderly in as many details as possible. For this purpose, over the past decades several surveys, organized by the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, have been carried out. One of them was the 1990 survey of 4,200 persons aged 70 years and over, which inquired after the changes in the living standards, incomes, consumer habits, lifestyles, living conditions, health status, occupational, migration, family and marriage history of the elderly included into the country sample. The data survey was based on the 1990 population census and this makes it possible to analyze also the housing, household and family conditions of the persons surveyed. Of the survey, the present publication - produced with the help of the "Active Society Foundation" - summarizes the topics related to the health status of the elderly. Of the most important results a short textual analysis has been prepared. In the detailed combination tables, among others, information obtained about characteristics pertaining to sex, age, the highest educational attainment and the occupation pursued for the longest time are figuring in such data combinations which can, in some form, be related with the health status of the elderly: the lasting diseases, the handicaps, the complaints and opinions of the elderly about their own health etc. The primary aim of the publication is to make the data known but - as the first in a series of publications based on the survey - it contains also a brief description of the methodology of the sampling, of the surveying and processing of the data and, respectively, the copy of the questionnaire used in the survey. The data in the volume are without sample correction. The most important totals and the part data in the tables are given, respectively, in absolute numbers (in bold type) and in percentages. The most important concepts used in the volume are described in a separate chapter. 4