The senior condition in Southern Europe and Scandinavia

Abstract

The extended increasing of life expectancy associated with a significant decline in the birth rate have contributed to a rapid aging of societies and a profound change in the demographic structure of many European countries. We analyze in this article the specific condition of the senior in the countries of Southern Europe and Scandinavia. In the case of countries with a configuration of different models of social protection, we realize that there are different ways of living old age in these societies. For this reason, our analysis uses the results obtained in the European Social Survey (round 5-2010). The analysis reveals the existence of different models that set the senior condition in the referred societies, which means different ways of dealing with the aging process. To conclude, the condition of the elderly does not depend solely on biological factors related to physical limitation, it is also influenced by social configuration that fits the experience of this period of individual life, as well as the way old people face it.