Table 1.
Background characteristics of 1825 adults aged 65 years and older from five EU countries (n = 1825 unless indicated otherwise).
| Characteristic | % of Sample |
|---|---|
| Gender | |
| Male | 50.4 |
| Female | 49.6 |
| Age group | |
| 65–69 | 55.9 |
| 70–90 | 44.1 |
| Country | |
| United Kingdom | 20.0 |
| The Netherlands | 20.1 |
| Poland | 19.9 |
| Spain | 20.0 |
| Finland | 20.0 |
| Educational attainment | |
| Below tertiary level | 59.6 |
| Tertiary level or above | 40.4 |
| Perceived financial situation (n = 1791) | |
| Have some or severe difficulties | 16.4 |
| Get by alright | 38.3 |
| Manage quite or very well | 45.3 |
| Living condition | |
| Lives alone | 30.6 |
| Lives with others | 69.4 |
| Responsibility for food purchases | |
| Does most of food shopping | 70.3 |
| Shared responsibility for food shopping | 19.6 |
| Does not shop for food | 10.1 |
| Number of health problems 1, mean ± sd (n = 1748) | 2.3 ± 2.1 |
| Dietary regime 2 | |
| Follows a meat-limiting diet | 13.2 |
| Does not follow a meat-limiting diet | 86.8 |
1 Sum of number of reported health problems out of 17 asked health problems. 2 Meat-limiting diet includes those who reported to follow a vegetarian or vegan diet or reported to eat meat (meat in a warm meal or cold-cuts) one time per week or less in the past four weeks.