8 March 2012: International Women’s Day Around 40% more women than men among the EU population aged 65 and over

STAT/12/196

7 March 2012

8 March 2012: International Women’s Day
Around 40% more women than men among the EU population aged 65 and over

How many more women than men are there among the total population and among the elderly? Is the share of women at risk of poverty or social exclusion higher than for men? How do employment rates for women and men differ by education level? Do women buy different goods and services over the internet than men?

Answers to these questions can be found in this News Release, published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8 March 2012. The tables in this News Release only show a small part of the large amount of gender based data available at Eurostat. A dedicated section on the topic of gender equality is available on the Eurostat web site1.

Twice as many women as men aged 65 and over in the Baltic countries

There were in total 257 million women and 245 million men in the EU27 in 2011, meaning that there were 105 women per 100 men. There were around 15% more women than men in the total population in the Baltic countries: Estonia and Latvia (both 117 women per 100 men) and Lithuania (115), while the ratio was almost equal in Cyprus, Sweden, Luxembourg and Malta (all 101 women per 100 men).

The ratio rose to 138 women per 100 men on average in the EU27 for those aged 65 and over. For this age group, there were around twice as many women as men in the Baltic countries: Latvia (208 women per 100 men), Estonia (204) and Lithuania (197), while there were around 20% more women than men in Cyprus (120 women per 100 men), Ireland (122) and Sweden (123).

The proportion of women at risk of poverty or social exclusion higher than for men in all Member States

In 2010, there were 62 million women (24.5% of all women) and 54 million men (22.3% of all men) in the EU27 who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that they were at least in one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty2, severely materially deprived2 or living in households with very low work intensity2. The proportion of women at risk of poverty or social exclusion was higher than for men in all Member States. The largest differences between women and men were recorded in Italy (26.3% for women and 22.6% for men), Austria (18.4% and 14.7%) and Slovenia (20.1% and 16.5%), and the smallest in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary (all with differences of less than 1 percentage point).

Demography and poverty & social exclusion

: Data not available

* 2010 data for Belgium, EU27 based on latest available data for each Member State.

** 2010 data for Belgium, Cyprus, Romania and Switzerland, EU27 based on latest available data for each Member State.

*** Persons in at least in one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity.

Differences in employment rates between women and men reduce as the education level rises

The employment rate3 for women aged 25 to 64 was 63.8% in the EU27 in 2010, while it was 77.5% for men, a difference of 13.7 percentage points (pp). This difference diminishes as the education level increases. For those with a low education level (at the most lower secondary education), the employment rate at EU27 level was 43.3% for women and 65.2% for men, a difference of 21.9 pp. The employment rate for persons with a medium education level (at the most upper secondary education) was 66.6% for women and 79.1% for men, a difference of 12.5 pp. For those with a high education level (tertiary education), the rate was 80.6% for women and 87.4% for men, a difference of 6.8 pp. This pattern was similar in almost all Member States.

Employment rates of women and men aged 25 to 64 by highest level of education attained*, 2010

* Low education level: Pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education (International Standard Classification of Education - ISCED levels 0-2)

Medium education level: Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED levels 3 and 4)

High education level: First and second stage of tertiary education (ISCED levels 5 and 6)

Internet purchases of clothes more common among female e-shoppers, electronic equipment among males

The purchase of goods and services over the internet is an increasing phenomenon. There are interesting differences between men and women when looking at the goods and services they buy over the internet. Among persons in the EU27 aged 16 to 74 who ordered goods or services over the internet in the last year (e-shoppers), it was more common in 2011 for women than for men to buy clothes over the internet (58% of female e-shoppers and 45% of male e-shoppers) as well as food (17% of female e-shoppers and 13% male e-shoppers). It was more common for men than for women to buy electronic equipment (17% for women and 32% for men), while for booking travel and holidays there was no difference between women and men (both 52%).

Internet purchases, 2011

% of e-shoppers

(individuals aged 16 to 74 who ordered goods or services over the internet in the last year)

* Provisional data

** 2010 data for Travel and holiday accommodation for the Netherlands.

*** Clothes and sporting goods.

u Data not reliable due to too small number of respondents.

( ) Data with reduced reliability due to small number of respondents.

• http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/employment_social_policy_equality/equality, where many gender based indicators are presented, as well as links to the website of the General Directorate Justice of the European Commission and to the European Institute for Gender Equality.

• Persons at-risk-of-poverty are those living in a household with an equivalised disposable income below the risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income (after social transfers). The equivalised income is calculated by dividing the total household income by its size determined after applying the following weights: 1.0 to the first adult, 0.5 to each other household members aged 14 or over and 0.3 to each household member aged less than 14 years old.

Severely materially deprived persons have living conditions constrained by a lack of resources and experience at least 4 out of the 9 following deprivation items: cannot afford 1) to pay rent/mortgage or utility bills on time, 2) to keep home adequately warm, 3) to face unexpected expenses, 4) to eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, 5) a one week holiday away from home, 6) a car, 7) a washing machine, 8) a colour TV, or 9) a telephone (including mobile phone).

People living in households with very low work intensity are those aged 0-59 who live in households where on average the adults (aged 18-59) worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year. Students are excluded.

People at risk of poverty or social exclusion are those that are at least in one of the above three conditions. One of the aims of the Europe 2020 Strategy is to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and social exclusion by 2020.

For this indicator, comparisons between sexes are based on the assumption of equal sharing of resources within households.

• The employment rate is calculated by dividing the number of persons aged 25 to 64 in employment by the total population of the same age group, expressed in %.

Eurostat News Releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat