Population Ageing and the Well-Being of Older Persons in Thailand ...

Section 4: Health Status
considerably less likely than younger elderly persons
to do so. Gender differences in self assessed health
are in the opposite direction as those with respect to
life expectancy and active life expectancy. This
paradox of older women experiencing better
mortality but worst health status is a common
finding in many populations (Verbrugge 1989). One
important part of the explanation is that older men
are more prone to fatal accidents and diseases while
women are more prone to non-life-threatening
illnesses.
The most striking finding is that, according to this
measure, self assessed health has improved steadily for
both men and women as well as for both younger and
older elderly persons. The results also indicate that in
each survey women are less likely to report their health
as good or very good than are men and that older are
4.3 Health problems and illness
Table 4.1 presents some of the relevant information
on health problems among older aged Thais as
assessed in 2007. Almost a fourth judge themselves
to be in poor or very poor health. This increases
substantially with age with less than a fifth of persons
age 60-69 compared to over 40 per cent of those 80
and older saying their health is poor or very poor.
Women and rural elderly are more likely to say their
health is poor or very poor than men or urban elderly.
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