Roughly six of every 10 Mexicans over 50 describe their health as fair or poor and significant percentages admit having difficulty doing daily activities, according to a survey released Monday by the INEGO statistics institute.

Nearly 68 percent of the women interviewed for INEGI’s Estudio Nacional de Salud y Envejecimiento - National Study on Health and Aging - said that their health was fair or bad, while 26.8 percent said that it was good, 2.8 percent said very good, and 2.9 percent said excellent.

Among men, 57.1 percent said that their health was fair or bad, 34 percent said it was good, 5.9 percent said very good, and 3 percent said excellent.

Among women, 9.5 percent said they had difficulty dressing themselves and 7.5 percent said they had trouble walking. The comparable figures for men are 6.2 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

Regarding chronic illnesses, the survey found that the main health problems affecting older Mexicans were hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis.

Regarding their relationship situation, 41.1 percent of woman said that they had no partner - that is, they were single, separated, widowed, or divorced - a figure that in the case of men was only 18.6 percent.

INEGI said that the study includes a longitudinal survey that was begun in 2001 with face-to-face interviews of 15,186 people 50 years of age or older, to whom were added another 5,896 people to update the survey in 2012.