Population ageing and intergenerational relations

What do we know about the Argentine Social Security (SS) system? How did SS coverage expand? How was/is SS financed? What levels of benefits are paid? What is the impact of demographic and labor market trends? Which are the challenges that future pension policies face in terms of sustainability?
Argentina is a paradigmatic case in the global context due to various aspects of its economic and social development, including setting up a SS system that was modified several times. Lately, a fully-funded component was introduced in 1994 and subsequently reversed to a pay-as-you-go scheme in 2008. After the 2001 crisis, the favorable fiscal position gave margin for policies that reversed the decline in coverage to unprecedented levels reaching over 90% of the elderly.
This paper analyzes the historical evolution, reviews the main demographic and SS changes, and provides updated data in terms of all the most relevant dimensions: scope, adequacy of benefits, funding sources, fiscal commitments, and potential perspectives.
Finally, an evaluation of the aging process and SS financing is carried out considering the ‘national transfer accounts’, based on applying age-specific patterns of current economic life-cycle to a scenario where all parameters are kept constant except for demographic prospects.

Background and Objectives: The study examined the socio-demographic correlates of: general health status of elderly persons (aged 60 and above) and fertility background of mothers of children aged 0-14 in Indonesia. Specifically, the focus was on the associations between the two components of age dependency ratios (old and young populations), fertility (total children ever born), gender, and wealth status. Discussion included a summary of studies on potential environmental degradation.
Methods: The primary data source for the study was the 2007/8 Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), a longitudinal survey that collected a wealth of information at the individual, household, and community levels. The 2007/8 survey revisited previous IFLS baseline households (1993 IFLS). Two multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine associations with selected independent variables: Model 1 examined the likelihood of elderly people having any body pain (physical constraints) in the preceding six months and Model 2 examined the likelihood of girls/boys 0-14 years old having a mother with 3 or more children ever born. The independent variables for Model 1 were: gender, age, education, marital status and wealth index. For Model 2, they were: gender, mother’s age, mother’s education and wealth index

Health status and mortality risks differ by type of living arrangement. Living as a married couple has a protective effect, whereas living alone is often associated with poorer health and higher mortality. Mortality is higher still for those living in institutions. However, given that those living in institutions are generally in poorer health than those living independently, it is unclear whether this higher mortality risk among the institutionalized population results from their poorer health, or from other causes. We use an exhaustive Belgian data set of 1.7 million persons aged 65 and above from the 2001 census, and model their survival during year 2002 using logistic regression and controlling for age, sex and education. The results confirm that living with a spouse is associated to the lowest mortality risk but survival for both is improved when the husband is older than the wife. Other types of family-household living arrangements are less favourable, while living alone is better for women than it is for men. Those living in institutions have a higher risk of mortality than those living in private households, irrespective of their health status. However this disadvantage declines with age, and effectively disappears after age 90.

This study focuses on a comparative analysis of attitude towards ageing among people aged 40-59 living in Korea and Japan. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether people’s perceptions on one's own future life vary in two countries. We also describe leading factors that make Korean and Japanese middle-aged adults more or less concerned about their ageing. The data for this study are collected from the 2010 Korea General Social Survey (KGSS) and Japanese General Social Survey (JGSS). Three scales of attitude towards ageing were examined as our dependent variables: anxiety about poor health, loss of life and financial independence. Our hypothesis was that Koreans will have more negative attitude towards ageing due to relatively weak social welfare for the elderly compared to Japan and strong family ties which make the elderly dependent on their offspring. However, the findings show that Japanese middle-aged adults are significantly more concerned about their future life than Koreans. After adjusting for socioeconomic characteristics, the difference between two countries became even greater. This study will attempt to address this result as following socioeconomic aspects: characteristics of Korean and Japanese middle-age, different social perceptions on education level and living area (urban/rural) in Korea and Japan.

Widowhood is one of the most stressful life events, resulting in declines in psychological wellbeing and increases in mortality risks. Although the consequences of widowhood on mortality and psychological wellbeing are well-documented, little is known about the impact of widowhood on physical health. We assess how widowhood influences physical wellbeing and identify the mechanisms underlying the relationship between widowhood and functional health. Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), we employ ordinary least square models to (1) compare the functional health of married and widowed persons and (2) examine the extent to which socioeconomic circumstances, relationship quality, and availability of social support explains the health differentials between them. Widowed persons have worse functional health than their married counterparts, net of demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, marital quality, and availability of other forms of social support. The worse functional health of widowed persons is largely attributable to the fact that they are more likely to be in low quality marriages and to have cared for an ailing spouse prior to their death.

The image of old age in Bangladesh is associated with graying of hair, wrinkling of skin, with poor physical health, and decreased ability to work. The common expression “bura hoechi”, to be aged, means to be limited in terms of performing economically productive activities, known as ‘work’. For ‘old-old’ age, there is a saying, “uthan akhon onek dure”, which literally means “even the courtyard is like a very distant place.” This takes the notion: even a courtyard becomes a place hard to reach by an old person. A common proverb in the form of rhyme is “jokhon hobe sathi hate porbe lathi.” This translates as “when you are sixty you are likely to need a stick in your hand.” The deterioration of the physical state associated with ageing is reinforced in saying “jokhon hobe ashi tokhon sob basi,” which means “when you are eighty you feel everything in past”.

Public pension system, labor market structure, occupation, family and individual characteristics are all well-known factors that influence older individual’s timing of retirement. In addition, changing labor market and family structures have increased the access and demand for leisure activities in older ages. One of the factors individuals take into account when approaching retirement is the prospects of being active in retirement. The leisure activities engaged in prior retirement may be an indicator of activities engaged in when retired. The aim of this study is to use longitudinal data to examine the extent that leisure activities before retirement change after retirement. The data used for this analysis is the Swedish Level of Living Study from 1981, 1991 and 2000. The study’s focus contributes to a deeper understanding of retirement behaviors. From a policy-making perspective, deeper understanding of retirement behaviors helps policy-makers to find suitable implements to influence individuals’ retirement.

Based on life course perspective, using data of the death survey derived from 5 wave longitudinal questionnaire surveys conducted in rural China,this paper studied factors affacting child care to older parents at the end of life. Multi-level linear model revealed that care is affacted by the birth order of the child, physical distance and intergenerational exchange before death. End-of-life care is mainly provided by sons and by only son or only daughter. The eldest child’s care ranked secondly,and least is provided by the youngest child. The child coresiding with older parents before death provided most and those who lives in the same village ranked secondly. Physical distance will reduce care. Those children,especially sons, who have more frequent intergenerational exchange with parents before death, provided more end-of-life care. It is imply that child’s end-of-life care is droven by traditional "filial piety and fraternal duty" norm and mechanism of children’s care labor division confirms to the principle of optimizing needs through strategic allocation of resources throughout the family system. Migrant children face competing obligations,while negative effects of sharp decline in fertility on older parents seems not as bad as imagined. Migration counterbalanced gender division of children in terms of end-of-life care.

The study explored income distribution among elderly in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. It based its analysis on relative income distribution by dividing population by income into 5 groups from highest 20% to lowest 20% where the first group represents those with highest incomes and the latter are those who have lowest incomes. The result shows that there is a significant number of people who have reported themselves of working/having jobs/being employed but turned out to have no income. The investigation was carried out further and found that among these people, the majority participate in household economic activities and share income with other family members. Others may possibly have other sources of finance that are not related to work e.g. the Elderly allowance from the Government, remittances from children or pension etc. The findings can be concluded that most elderly in Kanchanaburi province are able to support themselves with different sources of income.

With the increase of life expectancy and healthier aging, multigenerational ties have become increasingly important in individuals’ lives in Western societies. In addition, increasing longevity suggest that most parents will become grandparents. The decrease in childbearing has resulted that grandparents tend to have fewer grandchildren competing for their attention and therefore can play a larger role in the life of each one of them. Grandparenthood has become an increasingly important social role for older individuals. During the last decades, retirement transition has increasingly become a life event that many individuals in Western societies are able to decide upon. However the decision is constrained by many individual and structural factors. This study focus is on grandchildren as an potential influential factor in grandparents’ retirement timing. The aim is to use Swedish register data to investigate whether the existence of young grandchildren has any impact on grandparents’ retirement timing. Part of the aim is also to investigate whether the geographical distance between grandparents and grandchildren can be significantly linked to retirement transitions. The study’s focus contributes to a deeper understanding of how retirement behaviors are linked to extended family relations in contemporary Sweden.