Population ageing and intergenerational relations

The objective of this paper is to understand intergenerational resource flows to inform policy design for the development of human capital in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper provides empirical evidences on how changes in a population’s age structure—a product of changes in fertility and mortality—potentially affect the extent to which there is a surplus of production over consumption and hence a potential for understanding the structure of life cycle deficits across age groups and how these deficits can be financed in five selected African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, and South Africa). The methodological framework of the National Transfer accounts (NTA) is utilized. Our preliminary findings from the countries indicate that public transfer to children is relatively impressive in Senegal and South Africa, and least in Nigeria; public transfer to the elderly tended to be rather flat in Nigeria and Senegal. In South Africa, however, public pension transfer to the elderly is relatively high. Public transfer outflows in form of taxes are much relatively higher in South Africa among the working age population and the elderly. Senegal’s performance in terms of transfer outflows, though lower than South Africa is much better than Nigeria.

The paper will analyze and compare trends in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy in selected European countries from 1995 to 2010. The length of human life can be expressed by the indicator of life expectancy of an x-year old person. Life expectancy is understood as the average age of the deaths in a stationary population. But the healthy life expectancy can be considered as an indicator that tells us how many of these years are spent by the people in good health.
In this paper data about life expectancy and healthy life expectancy at birth and of a 65-year-old person for selected European countries (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom, Poland, Hungary, Estonia) will be compared. Data will be examined separately for men and women in the period 1995-2011.
Calculated absolute and relative changes in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy between years as well as differences between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy will be supplemented by figures and the graphical visualization of the data.

Elderly population is growing in the developing countries. Governments and societies are not prepared to cope with their aging populations and the oPt is no exception. The objective of this paper is to shed the light on the living conditions and social support of the elderly in the oPt and suggest policy recommendations. This paper is based on the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) 2010. The analysis was focused on 60 years and above people. 4.4% of the total population in the oPt were elderly (5% females and 3.8% males). 64% were married (91% men,44% women). 47% of the elderly were illiterate (65% men, 25% women). 87% were either living alone offering home to family members (9% and 78% respectively).42% was heads of households. 85% of the elderly think their children are taking full care of them. 15% reported having uncomfortable residence and 14% were annoyed from persons or things in their home. 8% reported having elderly clubs while only 0.7% was using them. 59% asked to have social associations while only 4% agreed on going to elderly homes. Many reported bad feelings and perceptions (50% depression, 46% worse social status, 51% nervousness, 37% loneliness. Apparently, elderly needs much support from both their families and other institutions. They should be targeted in the development agenda.

In the article, the pension reform of Georgia is analyzed in comparison with the pension reform of the developed European and post-communist countries, where, in the authors’ opinion, the countries’ demographic aspect was not taken into account. In particular, the main characteristics of the aging population and demographic structure. In their view, the minimum retirement age for men - 65 years, established in the country due to extra mortality rate in comparison with women, does not comply with reality and should not be more than 62 years old. In the pension reforms, carried out in Georgia, the main attention should not be focused only on the fiscal aspects but also the social, medical and demographic characteristics.
The paper, based on the demographic and medical data analysis, introduces expected socio - demographic effects caused by reduction of the minimum retirement age for men.

This paper explores how the timing of parental divorce within a child’s lifecourse can influence the obligations they feel to care for their parents later in life. The majority of studies have suggested that parental divorce that occurs earlier in a child’s life will have the most detrimental effect on their relationships with their parents in later years, and their obligations to provide care for them as they grow old. Drawing upon life-history interviews with 42 adult children aged 36-65 in Southampton (UK), this contention is challenged by demonstrating how mid-life experiences of parental divorce have weakened participants’ obligations to care in significant ways. In other cases where participants’ parents experienced deteriorating marital relations in later life but rejected divorce, an emergent living arrangement was identified called ‘living together apart’. This often involved the social withdrawal of fathers which weakened relationships with their adult children, and reduced their willingness to care for them in frailty. These findings are presented within the context of rising divorce rates in older age groups and a projected widening of the informal care gap in the UK. We conclude by considering the implications of these findings for family-centric social care policy.

We examine the social network (SN) – self-rated health (SRH) association for groups defined by age, sex and partnership, using survey data for older Australians. Models predict fair/poor SRH vs good/very good/excellent. Explanatory variables cover 3 network dimensions (social engagement (SE)/instrumental support (IS)/emotional support (ES)), distinguishing between family-, friend- and group-based networks. Sociodemographics, disability, mental health and subjective e(x) are included. SE is not associated with SRH except in the presence of an interaction between disability and SE. Only for unpartnered is more SE(family) associated with better SRH, and this is tempered by a reversed effect at higher levels of disability. This reversed effect also occurs more widely. For the oldest group, more SE(friends) is associated with worse SRH, although this is reduced at higher levels of disability. We find a ‘beneficial’ effect of group activity for most groups. IS(family) is associated with better SRH for males and those aged 60-69 but with poorer SRH for those aged 50-59. ES(friends) is associated with better SRH for males only. IS(friends) and ES(family) are not associated with SRH. These varying associations among demographic groups has implications for strategies and policies to support health and wellbeing in later life.

Public health expenditure has a clear tendency of increase in Spain in recent years. Assessing its determinants is extremely important to predict future health consumption and adjust government policies to attend future demand. Population aging is among one of the most important variables that trigger health expenditures. Deeper analysis is needed to understand which is the share of health costs growth attributable to population aging, regarding other factors like technological change or budget level allocated to health expenditures. We use a hospital cost survey to analyze the age profile of public expenditures on hospitals during the last decade in Spain. Results show that during these years average hospital spending by age grew constantly for almost all age groups, but especially among the elderly. Health care for people 80 years of age or above increased 141% from 2000 to 2009, even though they represent only 13% of the total hospital expenditure.

The main objective of the research is to depict the specifics of intergenerational transfers in Russia, to estimate the role of intra-family support on the life of the elderly people, the intensity of contacts between relatives and thus to show the moderating effects of intergenerational exchanges on social inequalities.
State support encompasses elderly population mainly by means of payments from the Pension Fund. The risk of increase in inequality between generations is probable as number of tax payers decreases affecting cost-benefit ratio governmental provisions, private intra-family support among generations has informal character and poses the question of its universal and obligatory nature. Assistance within the family has various forms and contributes to generational equity and solidarity.
We use various sources of data, which contain generous and specific information about main characteristics of different generations and intergenerational transfers. Among them data from Rosstat, RLMS. The assessment of priorities in the reforming of the social security system is based on the 2000-s years studies including the survey of intergenerational relations of elderly in their families, conducted by the author in rural areas of Russia.

Data from the 2007 Philippine Longitudinal Study on Aging (PLSOA) show at least 15 percent of older Filipinos have some level of functional disability. Functional disability measured in terms of activities of daily living (ADL) was found to be increasing with advancing age and is higher among the females than males. On the average, those who experienced some form of functional disability reported an average of 3 ADL difficulties. Among the seven ADL activities examined, older people found it most difficult standing up or sitting down and going outside/leaving the house while eating was found to be least strenuous. Our findings show various levels of severity and need of assistance among those who found difficult in performing any of the ADL tasks.

Generally, older Filipinos receive significant amount of monetary and non-monetary support from their family. This includes remittances from children from abroad. Support for older people is manifested in their living arrangements with most of the older person found to be coresiding with their children.

Study findings point to a strong association between functional health status and the level of family support received by older people. Particularly, significantly more support is provided to those who experience functional difficulty.

Living arrangement of older persons has become a central issue of population ageing due to its normative and practical importance for the well being of older persons. This study, utilizing ' Survey of Living Profile and Welfare Service Needs of Older Persons in Korea in 2008 and 2012, attempts to provide an empirical analysis on persistence and change of living arrangements over the life course of older persons. The study begins with cross sectional approach on living arrangement patterns in 2008 and 2012. Multinominal analysis reveals that marital status, education level, and attitudes on filial responsibilities are the main determinants of living arrangements. And analyzes the change of living arrangements over the life course following those aged 60 and over in the next 3 years are conducted. Descriptive analysis reveals that while many elder parents sustain their current living arrngements for the given period, some older persons expeirence changes. Logit regression analysis reveals that changes of living arrangements, particularly from coresidence with married children to separate resident, are closely related to not only the loss of spouse and biological ageing but also attitude on filial responsibilities and the main motive of coresidence. Based empirical results, policy implications are suggested.