Table 1.
Demographic and health characteristics for each sample
| Characteristic | Australia | USA | Japan | Korea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N |
7,355 |
10,358 |
3,541 |
3,971 |
| Sex (% male) |
16.1 |
41.9 |
44.2 |
41.4 |
| Mean age in years (SD) |
77.2 (6.50) |
74.5 (7.30) |
74.4 (6.60) |
73.0 (6.31) |
| Partner status (% partnered) |
52.2 |
58.8 |
64.4 |
62.8 |
| Educational level (%) |
|
|
|
|
| Grade 9 or lower |
27.3 |
16.6 |
60.6 |
82.1 |
| Grades 10-12 |
37.8 |
46.3 |
29.1 |
11.7 |
| Post-secondary |
34.9 |
37.0 |
10.3 |
6.2 |
| Smoking (% non-smoker) |
95.0 |
90.2 |
83.0 |
84.8 |
| Drinking Alcohol (% abstainer) |
27.7 |
70.3 |
66.1 |
74.3 |
| Medical conditions (%) |
|
|
|
|
| None |
19.3 |
7.7 |
32.5 |
36.3 |
| One |
32.8 |
24.9 |
45.1 |
39.3 |
| More than one |
47.9 |
67.4 |
22.4 |
24.4 |
| ADL Difficulty (% with no difficulty) |
86.4 |
86.1 |
96.9 |
91.3 |
| Mental Health Status (% poor) |
12.4 |
14.9 |
13.3 |
23.1 |
| Self-rated health (%)a |
|
|
|
|
| Poor |
3.0 |
8.5 |
2.5 |
40.6 |
| Fair |
22.1 |
22.7 |
20.8 |
30.9 |
| Good |
40.4 |
32.4 |
41.2 |
23.5 |
| Very good |
27.3 |
27.6 |
19.1 |
4.0 |
| Excellent |
7.1 |
8.8 |
16.4 |
1.0 |
| Mean self-rated health (SD)b | 2.87 (0.94) | 2.94 (1.09) | 2.74 (1.04) | 4.06 (1.11) |
a In the Japanese survey response options were totally healthy/relatively healthy/of average health/relatively not very healthy/not at all healthy.
b Low scores indicate good health; excellent = 1 to poor = 5.
Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 due to rounding. All characteristics are significantly different between countries, p < .001 determined by Chi squared or F-test.