Panama
Results are from an analysis of the 2010 Population and Housing Census. Information on methodology is in the report and in the method briefs.
Prevalence of Functional Difficulties
In Panama, the share of adults aged 15 and older with any functional difficulty stands at 5%. The prevalence of functional difficulties is higher for women (5.1%) than for men (4.8%). Functional difficulties are more prevalent among older age groups, at 1.4% for ages 15 to 29, 2.1% for ages 30 to 44, 6.2% for ages 45 to 64, and 22.4% for ages 65 and over. Across the five functional domains considered, difficulties with mobility (3.5%) and seeing (0.8%) are most common.
At the household level, the prevalence of any functional difficulty is at 11.1%. The prevalence of functional difficulties is higher in rural areas compared to urban areas: 6.1% vs. 4.4% among adults and 13.8% vs. 9.9% among households, for rural and urban areas, respectively.
Table 1: Panama: Prevalence of functional difficulties (%)
| Group | Any difficulty |
|---|---|
| All adults | 4.95 |
| Females | 5.07 |
| Males | 4.83 |
| Rural residents | 6.11 |
| Urban residents | 4.40 |
| Ages 15 to 29 | 1.36 |
| Ages 30 to 44 | 2.08 |
| Ages 45 to 64 | 6.19 |
| Ages 65 and over | 22.39 |
| Seeing | 0.82 |
| Hearing | 0.56 |
| Mobility | 3.51 |
| Cognitive | 0.42 |
| Self-care | – |
| Communication | 0.56 |
| All households | 11.14 |
| Rural households | 13.79 |
| Urban households | 9.90 |
Source: Panama 2010 Population and Housing Census, own calculations
Key indicators on the deprivations and wellbeing experienced by persons with and without functional difficulties are presented in Table 2. Table 2 begins with information on the multidimensional poverty headcount—the rate of persons deprived in more than one dimension in the areas of education, work, health, and standard of living. Persons with any functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty rate of 46% compared to 19% for persons with no difficulty.
Table 2: Panama: Key indicators for adults age 15+ by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)
| Indicator | No Difficulty | Any difficulty | Difference | Stat. Significance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multidimensional poverty headcount | 19 | 46 | -27 | *** |
| Less than primary school | 13 | 44 | -31 | *** |
| Employment population ratio | 56 | 24 | 32 | *** |
| Safely managed drinking water | 94 | 93 | 1 | *** |
| Safely managed sanitation | 88 | 88 | -1 | * |
| Clean fuel | 85 | 80 | 5 | *** |
| Electricity | 86 | 83 | 3 | *** |
| Adequate housing | 83 | 80 | 3 | *** |
| Owns assets | 58 | 52 | 7 | *** |
Source: Panama 2010 Population and Housing Census, own calculations
Education
The share of adults who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is higher among persons with any functional difficulty (44%) compared to persons with no difficulty (13%), which boils down to a gap of 31 percentage points (p.p.).
Work
Persons with no functional difficulty have a higher employment population ratio (or share of the population working) than persons with any functional difficulty, at 56% and 24%, respectively.
Health
There are small but statistically significant differences of about 1 p.p. in the rates of access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation, with persons with any functional difficulty being worse off than persons with no difficulty in the case of drinking water and better off in the case of sanitation.
Standard of Living
There are significant differences in terms of the share of individuals with clean fuel, electricity, adequate housing, and asset ownership, with lower rates for persons with any functional difficulty.
More results for Panama are available in results tables on the ddi website.