Gender Inequality in Sickness-related Absences

Up until 2008, the sickness absence rate for women was lower than that for men; thereafter, the trend reversed, and since 2010 the rate for women has consistently been higher than that for men. In 2025, 4.2 percent of women's annual working time were lost due to sickness and accident-related absences, compared with 3.9 percent for men. This corresponds to 15.5 days of sickness absence for women and 14.1 days for men. Although the proportion of older employees has risen for both women and men, the change in age structure only partly explains the higher sickness absence rate among women.