[Lost working time due to ill health in Hungary in 2021]

Introduction: Deteriorating of workers’ health means reduced performance for the employers, lower incomes for workers and increased health care costs for the country. Objective: Examination of the loss of working time due to ill health in 2021, its gender differences and changes compared to 2019, and the differences of the Hungarian data compared to other countries. Methods: Working time loss in the 30–64 years age group was analyzed by the number of working days lost in 2021 due to disability and ‘premature’ deaths in the 30–64 years age group, and by the number of future working days lost by the deceased until retirement age. Data on disability and mortality were taken from the Global Burden of Disease Study database, and population and mortality data from the National Statistical Office and Eurostat. Hungarian data were compared with the corresponding figures for the Visegrad countries and Austria. Results: In the year 2021, 30–64-year-old workers lost one in seven working days, meaning they could not work at all for 37 working days. In addition, more than 117,000 years that could be worked until retirement were lost. For women, the loss of working time was due to disability, for men more to mortality. Compared to 2019, the number of working days lost per capita increased by 7% and the future loss of working days due to mortality by 40%. Hungary was similar to other countries in the number of days lost per capita due to limitation, but the number of deaths was much higher than in the others. Discussion: The female excess of disability and the male excess of mortality are assumed to be due to different attitudes towards disease: men perceive their health better and therefore use health care less often. The higher mortality in Hungary compared to other countries reflects the lower effectiveness of prevention and medical care. The high rate of deaths that can be prevented or avoided with medical intervention is largely due to deficiencies in the health system, and not to a low willingness to seek medical care. Conclusions: The results show that reducing time lost to work requires a different approach by gender. To mitigate losses, improvements in the effectiveness of public health and medical interventions are needed. Measures to promote healthy lifestyles and create an enabling environment are also essential to increase the country’s competitiveness. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(51): 2026–2032.