The bar chart compares the results of three surveys on reasons for not going to work in a specific country in Europe in 2000, 2005 and 2010. Overall, illness was the most common cause among employees over the period. On the contrary, stress was the least common answer for all three years.
Sickness and family responsibilities were by far the two most popular options. In 2000, just below 45% of the responses regarded illness, whereas the figure was between 25% and 30% for family responsibilities. Although both categories saw a decline in 2005, family responsibilities remained the same in 2010 at the level of slightly above 20%, while illness continued its fall to approximately 35% in 2010.
The least popular response categories included personal needs, unexpected problems and stress. For the first survey, the figures for these were around 12%, marginally below 10% and just above 5%, respectively. While both personal needs (appointments, etc.) and unexpected troubles (transport, weather, etc.) increased moderately in 2005, the figure for stress saw a negligible decrease. Following these changes, responses regarding stress saw a sharp incline to more than 10%, while the category of unexpected issues stayed the same and personal needs witnessed a decline.