A/HRC/5/3 page 23 51. As of early 2006, 9.8 per cent of the EU-2544 working-age adults were living in jobless households (i.e. where no member of the family was working). It was seen that families with children were worst affected by joblessness, and the share of children living in jobless households varied across member countries.45 52. Employment does not necessarily eliminate poverty, as can be seen in the case of the EU. In 2004, 7 per cent of working EU citizens (above 16 years of age) were at risk of poverty (after social transfers). The existence of working poverty in the EU raises serious questions about the quality of work and the commitment of the EU to poverty reduction. The definition of the working poor as devised by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics and now widely accepted is “those persons who have devoted at least half of the year to labour market efforts, being either employed or in search of a job during that period, but who still live in poor families”.46 Very limited research on working poverty has been conducted in the EU; France is the only member country to have initiated studies on the working poor. Working poverty should be studied both at the income and household levels to provide a more holistic understanding of the problem. A high rate of risk of poverty among self-employed persons was also recorded (15 per cent as of 2001). The EU has also studied the relationship between poor working conditions and working poverty to find ways to improve the quality of employment in the region. 53. Life expectancy in the EU-25 has increased over the last decade. Between 1995-2005, life expectancy for men has increased from 72.8 years to 75.8 years and for women from 79.7 years to 81.9 years. However, the healthy life years (HLY) indication at birth is much lower than the life expectancy. According to Eurostat data, in 2003, in the EU-15,47 women were expected to live healthy lives for 66 years and men for 64.5 years. In 2004, the total health-care expenditure in the EU-25 was 7.4 per cent of GDP (including both public health care and private insurance), with some countries like the Netherlands and Sweden recording more than 8 per cent health expenditure and Latvia, Lithuania and Poland recording a little more than 3 per cent. 54. The challenges to achieving effective health care are common across the globe, the most significant, being the health of ageing populations. As with increasing life expectancy, the share of old and very old persons in the population has increased. Ageing also increases the pressures to provide better curative and rehabilitative health care, and most of the EU member countries are presently ill equipped to provide such long-term care. No EU country has a specific legislation on long-term care; France and the Czech Republic are among the only countries to have incorporated long-term care into their social assistance programmes. If costs relating to 44 EU of 25 member States (2004 to 2006). 45 Eurostat Labour Force Survey, Spring 2006, at Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, MEMO/07/66, Brussels, 19 February 2007, at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleases Action.do?reference=MEMO/07/66&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en. 46 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, A profile of the working poor, March 2002. 47 EU of 15 member States (1995 to 2004).