Table 1.

Selected characteristics of subjects aged 10 years or older living in communities with different numbers of inhabitants

	Rural communities <20,000 inhabitants n = 82,462			Urban communities 20,000 – 500.000 inhabitants n = 74,385			Metropolitan communities >500.000 inhabitants n = 24,477
	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women
Sex (male); %	48.6	-	-	47.2*	-	-	46.7*	-	-
Age; years	45 ± 20	43 ± 19	46 ± 21	46 ± 20*	44 ± 19*	47 ± 21*	46 ± 20*	44 ± 19*	47 ± 21*
School education
<10 years	57.4	56.6	58.2	52.0*	50.4*	53.4*	45.1*	43.6*	46.4*
10 years	28.3	26.6	30.0	26.4*	24.2*	28.2*	26.7*	24.1*	28.9*
>10 years	14.2	16.8	11.8	21.6*	25.3*	18.4*	28.3*	32.3*	24.7*
Marital status
single	29.8	34.3	25.5	31.3*	35.2*	27.8*	34.1*	37.8*	30.8*
married	57.4	59.1	55.9	53.7*	56.8*	51.0*	49.4*	53.0*	46.3*
divorced	8.8	3.1	14.1	9.1*	3.2	14.4	9.0	3.1	14.1
widowed	4.0	3.5	4.5	5.9*	4.8*	6.9*	7.5*	6.0*	18.9*
Monthly income
<1000 DM	35.4	20.8	49.0	32.7*	20.2	43.9*	27.9*	18.6*	36.0*
1000 DM – <2500 DM	39.5	38.2	40.7	39.2	35.7*	42.3*	38.8	34.2*	42.9*
2500 DM – <4000 DM	17.0	26.5	8.1	19.0*	28.2*	10.8*	22.3*	29.4*	16.2*
≥4000 DM	8.1	14.5	2.2	9.1*	15.9*	3.0*	10.9*	17.8*	4.9*
Residency in East Germany	24.2	23.8	24.5	20.2*	19.9*	20.5*	30.6*	30.7*	30.6*

German Microcensus 1999. Data are percentage and mean ± standard deviation.

100 DM = 51.13 Euro

* p < 0.05, logistic regression and ANOVA; references: total, male and female population living in rural communities