Table 2.

Prevalence of multimorbidity by socio-demographic characteristics

Variables	2 or more chronic conditions			1 chronic condition			No chronic conditions
	n	%	SE	n	%	SE	n	%	SE
Overall	1420	51.5	1.4	692	29.3	1.3	453	19.3	1.1
Age group
60–74 years	770	47.2	1.7	419	31.1	1.6	305	21.6	1.4
75–84 years	419	65.3	2.5	157	23.1	2.2	93	11.6	1.6
85+ years	231	59.8	3.2	116	25.9	2.9	55	14.3	2.3
Gender
Men	587	49.6	2.1	309	31.2	2	221	19.1	1.7
Women	833	52.9	1.9	383	27.7	1.7	232	19.4	1.6
Ethnicity
Chinese	540	50.7	1.7	291	29.9	1.5	181	19.4	1.3
Malay	364	48.8	2	220	28.7	1.8	161	22.5	1.7
Indian	491	62.7	1.8	172	21.8	1.6	109	15.5	1.4
Others	25	67.7	7.9	9	26.4	7.2	2	5.9	4.1
Marital status
Never married	59	41.8	5.3	44	33.5	5.2	33	24.6	4.7
Married/cohabiting	798	50.4	1.8	398	29.4	1.7	288	20.2	1.5
Widowed	500	58.5	2.6	227	28.1	2.4	109	13.4	1.9
Divorced/separated	61	46.7	6.4	23	27.7	5.9	23	25.6	5.7
Education
None	297	59.2	3.2	136	27.5	3	78	13.4	2.2
Some, but did not complete primary	351	54.6	2.9	165	27.3	2.6	104	18.1	2.3
Completed primary	359	52.7	2.9	164	26.3	2.5	117	21	2.4
Completed secondary	267	44.4	3	148	33.2	2.9	102	22.5	2.6
Completed tertiary	136	44.9	4.2	76	35	4.1	50	20.1	3.4
Employment status
Paid work (part-time and full-time)	295	41	2.5	205	32.8	2.4	188	26.2	2.3
Unemployed (looking for work)	16	45.8	12	11	46.4	12.1	5	7.8	4.6
Homemaker	485	54	2.7	212	27.8	2.4	111	18.1	2.2
Retired	607	59.3	2.2	255	26.1	2	144	14.5	1.6