Suriname

Results are from an analysis of the 2012 Census. Information on methodology is in the report and in the method briefs.

Prevalence of Functional Difficulties

In Suriname, the share of adults aged 15 and older with any functional difficulty stands at 15.9%. Separating by level of difficulty, the prevalence rates of some difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty are 12.8% and 3.1% respectively. The prevalence of functional difficulties is higher for women (18.1%) than for men (13.6%). Functional difficulties are more prevalent among older age groups, at 5.2% for ages 15 to 29, 10% for ages 30 to 44, 24% for ages 45 to 64, and 45.9% for ages 65 and over. Across the six functional domains considered, difficulties with seeing (11.6%) and mobility (5%) are most common.

About three in ten households have an adult with any functional difficulty: at the household level, the prevalence of any functional difficulty is at 31.1%, including 23.8% with some difficulty and 7.3% with at least a lot of difficulty.

Table 1: Suriname: Prevalence of functional difficulties (%)

Group	Any difficulty	Some difficulty	At least a lot of difficulty
All adults	15.88	12.81	3.07
Females	18.07	14.63	3.44
Males	13.60	10.92	2.68
Rural residents	–	–	–
Urban residents	–	–	–
Ages 15 to 29	5.18	4.42	0.75
Ages 30 to 44	10.03	8.36	1.67
Ages 45 to 64	24.03	20.16	3.87
Ages 65 and over	45.87	33.43	12.44
Seeing	11.59	10.08	1.51
Hearing	2.72	2.31	0.41
Mobility	4.98	3.78	1.20
Cognitive	2.89	2.34	0.55
Self-care	1.54	1.01	0.53
Communication	1.16	0.85	0.32
All households	31.12	23.80	7.33
Rural households	–	–	–
Urban households	–	–	–

Notes: ‘-’ indicates not available.
Source: Suriname 2012 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 at least a lot of functional difficulty have a multidimensional poverty headcount of 25% compared to 21% for persons with some functional difficulty and 16% for persons with no difficulty.

Table 2: Suriname: Key indicators for adults age 15+ by functional difficulty status (% and percentage points)

Indicator	No Difficulty	Some Difficulty	Difference between no difficulty and some difficulty	At least a lot of difficulty	Difference between no difficulty and at least a lot of difficulty
Multidimensional poverty headcount	16	21	-4***	25	-8***
Less than primary school	6	18	-13***	31	-25***
Employment population ratio	56	49	7***	32	24***
Safely managed drinking water	89	85	4***	83	6***
Safely managed sanitation	96	90	6***	87	8***
Clean fuel	88	82	6***	78	10***
Electricity	93	90	2***	91	1*
Adequate housing	74	65	8***	60	14***
Owns assets	71	63	8***	56	14***

Notes: *, **, and *** indicate that the difference is statistically significant at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively. Numbers in the difference columns are in percentage points while all other numbers in the table are percentages.
Source: Suriname 2012 Census, own calculations

Education

The share of adults who have less than primary school as their highest level of schooling attained is significantly higher among persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty (31%) and persons with some difficulty (18%) compared to persons with no difficulty (6%). This boils down to gaps of 13 percentage points (p.p.) between persons with some functional difficulty and persons with no difficulty and 25 p.p. between persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty and persons with no difficulty.

Work

Persons with at least a lot of functional difficulty have a lower employment population ratio (or share of the population working) than persons with no difficulty, at 32% and 56%, respectively. At 49%, persons with some difficulty also have a significantly lower employment population ratio than persons with no difficulty.

Health

There are significant differences in terms of the rates of access to safely managed drinking water and sanitation, with lower rates for persons with some difficulty and even lower rates for persons with at least a lot of difficulty.

Standard of Living

Rates of access to electricity are significantly lower among persons with some or at least a lot of difficulty compared to persons with no difficulty. There are also significant differences in terms of the share of individuals with clean fuel, adequate housing, and asset ownership, with lower rates for persons with some difficulty and even lower rates for persons with at least a lot of difficulty.

More results for Suriname are available in results tables on the ddi website.