Bank of Spain: ‘Health problems could limit the delay of retirement’
The Bank of Spain has warned on Thursday that the incidence of certain health problems in the Spanish population close to retirement age could represent “a limitation” when it comes to extending working life.
The Bank of Spain has published a study on the state of health of the population of retirement age, in which it collects data from the 2015 “Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe” to conclude that health deteriorates markedly when moving from the 55-64 age group to the 65-69 age group, especially in women.
According to this survey, 38% of Spaniards aged 55-64 had chronic diseases – ranging from hypertension to cancer – a percentage that shot up to 53% for those aged 65-69 and for women in this age group to over 60%.
Bank of Spain states that almost 30% of women aged 65-69 suffer from symptoms of depression.
In the case of mobility problems, which did not exceed 10 % of incidence for Spaniards aged 55-64, they reached 15.8 % of men and 30.1 % of women in the next age group.
Similarly, the incidence of symptoms of depression rose from 7.2 % among men aged 55-64 and 28.9 % among women of the same age to 16.3 % and 32.1 % respectively.
In view of these data, the Banco de España points out that, despite the improvement in the health of the population and greater longevity, “the prevalence of certain health problems in the population close to retirement age could be a limitation in terms of extending the working life of this group”.
