EUROPEAN PICTURE OF THE ELDERLY PEOPLE: RESEARCH ON THE MAIN SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS AND TRENDS IN SELECTED COUNTRIES

Abstract

The paper deals with the demographic topics of ageing, age and the elderly people in Europe. Seeing as these topics still take up marginal space in most research fields except gerontology, the aim of the paper is to deepen the thematic framework. Because of that, but also because it is difficult to reach more detailed data on generations over 65 in Europe, this paper will present the results of the research on the basic socio-demographic characteristics of elderly people in 11 European countries. The data on which this research is based comes from the last waves of census; they were harmonized and obtained in the LIS center of the University of Luxembourg. The data show the basic socio-demographic characteristics classified into three groups: where do people over 65 live, with whom do older than 65 live, how do older than 65 live. The data also show that in northern and western countries, which are economically more developed, the elderly population lives in cities more. The number of households with one elderly member in rural areas increases in Central Europe, and the highest percentage of those older than 65 in rural areas live in Greece and Serbia. The connection between certain countries and the education level of the elderly is statistically meaningful. Therefore, in northern and western countries, which are more developed, there are more highly educated elderly people than in less developed countries in Central and South Europe.