One-third of older people help look after grandchildren on daily basis

ONE-THIRD of older people across Europe help with the care of grandchildren on a daily basis, a major survey by the European Commission has found.

Published in Brussels yesterday, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement Europe (Share) also found that women in the south of Europe live longest. Men in the north are the least-sick older people in the community.

The data is drawn from a survey of 35,000 people aged 50 and over in Israel and 14 EU member states, including Ireland. Areas covered in the survey, carried out in 2006 and 2007, include mental and physical health, retirement, social supports, education and housing.

Its data shows that "the demise of the family is a myth", with about one-third of older people spending an average of 4.6 hours per day looking after grandchildren or helping others.

Gerard Scully, information officer with Age Action Ireland, said this reiterated the point that grandparents remained an "essential part of family life".

This should be a choice, however. "If older people want to look after their grandchildren they should be able to. If, however, they don't, there should be adequate childcare in place so undue burden is not put on grandparents to be long-term childminders, often unpaid ones."

The survey finds northern Europeans are healthier and wealthier, but people in the south live longer.

"Men are healthier and wealthier, but women live longer. Understanding the causes for these patterns - are they genetic, due to socio-economic factors, or due to different ways of living - is a scientific challenge for researchers," says a summary.

A strong correlation was found between socio-economic status and physical and mental health. Individuals with less education were 70 per cent more likely to be physically inactive and 50 per cent more likely to be obese, compared to those with a higher education.

"Depression is more frequent among persons with low income or low wealth, particularly in the northern countries of Europe."

The relationship between income and health was significant, Mr Scully said.

"It's one we know but is often forgotten, and it underlines the importance of older people having medical cards. Health is very much related to whether you can afford to look after it," he said.

The survey found "there is much room for improvement" in the quality of geriatric care. "For example, from a preventative perspective, there is a serious lack of geriatric assessments and screening tests."

The surveyors found differences in welfare systems had a clear impact on the age at which people retired. In countries where early retirement was allowed and/or was generous - typically southern countries and also Austria and France - there were high numbers of early retirees.

"As a result there is a large unused labour capacity in countries such as Austria, Italy and France, where many healthy individuals are not in the labour force."

They also found quality of employment was strongly associated with wellbeing. "Lower quality employment goes hand in hand with poor health and depression."