The graph illustrates the changes in the proportion of employees who were absent at least one day because of sickness from five various European nations during a decade from 1991.
Overall, what stands out from the graph is that there were substantial changes in all the countries, with the exception of the percentage of Germany and the UK were rather consistent.
Another interesting point is that the proportion of people taking leave from work due to illness in Netherlands was the highest during the majority of time, while that of Germany had the lowest rate.
After fluctuating from 1991 to 1996, the percentage of workers who missed work because of illness in Netherlands saw gradually increase, with its figure rising to over 5% in 2001. During the whole period, similar patterns could be observed for UK and Germany, with the former remained stable at about 2.5% , and the latter saw a stability at around 1.3%.
Between 1991 and 1996, the figure of France significant decline, decreasing from 5% to 3%. The following years it hit its lowest point of 3% and remaining there until the end of the period. In contrast, the proportion of workers with sickness absence in Sweden considerable increased throughout the period by 1.75%, reaching highest of 4.75% in 2001.