The bar chart illustrates the distribution of five reasons cited for workplace absenteeism in a European country in 2000, 2005 and 2010.
Overall, illness remained the most common reason given for not going to work, despite a gradual decline throughout the surveyed period. Meanwhile, personal needs and unexpected problems became more prevalent, while stress fluctuated, in contrast to a slight decrease followed by stabilisation in family responsibilities.
Regarding the two main reasons, illness remained the dominant cause of absenteeism, while stress showed fluctuations throughout the surveyed period. In 2000, the figure for illness stood at approximately 43, before declining steadily to around 35 by 2010. In terms of stress, it fell initially from about 7 in 2000 to 5 in 2005, after which it rose markedly to approximately 13 in 2010. Overall, illness was consistently more prevalent than stress, despite their differing patterns of change.
Turning to the remaining reasons, personal needs and unexpected problems became more common over the period, whereas family responsibilities showed a modest decrease followed by stabilisation. The figure for personal needs rose steadily, from roughly 15 in 2000 to over 20 in 2010. Similarly, unexpected problems stood at just under 10 at the start of the period and rose to a peak of about 15 in 2005. However, this figure decreased slightly to around 13 by the end of the period. By contrast, family responsibilities declined from approximately 27 in 2000 to about 25 in 2005 and then remained stable through to 2010.