Key findings





Hearing
- 18% of adults reported hearing difficulties.
- A hearing test showed that 13% of adults had objective hearing loss at the 3 kHz high frequency sound.
Social care: need and receipt
- 24% of men and 33% of women aged 65 and over needed help with at least one ADL. 21% of men and 34% of women said they needed help with at least one IADL.
- Not all those who needed help received any, and there was more unmet need with ADLs than IADLs.
Social care: provision
- 17% of adults provided unpaid help or support to other people.
- Around half of adults providing care were helping a parent (49%).
Planning for future care needs
- Almost half of participants said they had thought about how they will pay for care when they are older.
- A cap on lifetime care costs is expected to be introduced in April 2020. Around a third of adults aged 30 and over said they were aware of this (32%).
Alcohol consumption
- 5% of men drank more than 50 units a week and 4% of women drank more than 35 units a week.
- In 2014, a minority of adults, 18% (15% of men and 21% of women) did not drink alcohol.
Obesity
- Around a quarter of adults were obese.
- 17% of children aged 2-15 were obese, and an additional 14% were overweight.
Mental health problems
- 26% of adults reported having ever been diagnosed with at least one mental illness.
- Women were more likely than men to report ever having been diagnosed with a mental illness (33% compared with 19%).
Attitudes to mental health
- Women had less prejudiced and more tolerant views than men.
- Attitudes towards mental illness were associated with people’s own knowledge and experience of mental illness, and whether they knew others who had experienced mental illness.